My Brave Wendy
by Isabelle
Summary: Set 1 yr post film. Seeking Wendy, Peter finds out she's been sent to a all girls' boarding school in Switzerland and what is worse... he's running against time. Peter & Wendy fiction, adult oriented.
1. Kissed a Boy

**"Kissed a Boy"** (part 1 of '_My Brave Wendy_')

by Isabelle

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me, this is just done for entertainment. Chapter Disclaimers: The song "Are you Happy Now" belong entirely to Michelle Branch.

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references)

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you.

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan", it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did.

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her.

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!!

-----------------------

_Could you look me in the eyes   
And tell me that your happy now  
Would you tell it to my face or have I been erased   
Are you happy now? _

Yes, it was warm but it was not home. It was soft and inviting but it had nothing but memories lost in the great winds. There was not grand window were she could appraise the sky... or look for him.

Her mother had told her that when her John and Michael had gone they were gone for months, while it was only days for her. That must mean for him, it had only been a short while meanwhile she had waited 378 days for his return and all that was in the sky was the soft floating forms of snowflakes as they made love to the wind, floating back and forth until they landed in perfect unison in the snow-covered floor. 

It was beautiful to watch, almost like watching the Fairy King and Queen dance underneath the enchanted tree. Life had been good at that moment, she mused. Life had definitely been good.

She no longer considered herself a little girl, like she had once proclaimed because, she understood, when a child lets themselves feel certain emotions one cannot ever feel once more like a child. Adulthood took you like a hook in the night, yanking you out the state of happy limbo and thrusting you into a world which was cold, unsure and above all... alone.

Wendy never would've considered herself to feel alone. Ever. How could she, she had eight brothers! But here, in the bittersweet warmth of her bed in her new Boarding School she was utterly alone. So alone. And no one. Not even Peter would come to neither rescue her or keep her company.

He was gone and sadly, at that moment she accepted it. He wouldn't have been happy with her anyways, to be with her he would've needed to grow up or at least to admit to himself that he had grown up, for he seemed to her very much an adult... especially after she had kissed him. There was a look to his eye that had not been there before, and the way he looked at her was... different. 

She supposed she was too young to understand exactly what had happened, but one thing was certain and that certainty she would hold until her dying day... for a moment, he had loved her.

--------------------

_You took all there was to take  
And left me with an empty plate   
And you don't care about it _

He had counted her absence with gold leaves that reminded him of her hair, he had set them up next to his bed carefully collecting them daily, staring at them until he could remember exactly what her hair looked like.

Often he had found the leaves messy and out of order, he knew it was Tinkerbell who had done it. She hated the leaves and hated everything in the tree house that reminded Peter of Wendy. 

Like Wendy's house, which he had brought to the Tree House, placed it next to his bed, keeping it tidy and walking in once in a while to smell her in there. It smelled like Lavender and Spring, Wendy smell.

When he had collected 34 leaves he noticed something... unexpected. As he called for Tinkerbell his voice did something funny. It sounded... deep. Like a man. The sound had frightened him so much that he tried to drown himself and it only resulted in being pulled back by the Fairies.

When the leaves were 42, another incident happened that almost drove him mad. He noticed that there were hairs... hairs growing in places where they had not grown before. Under his arms... and between his legs. Loads of them and quickly.

He had cried that night and there had been no angel to console like the last time he cried. He would suffer through 100 needles if it meant Wendy would fix it all with her needle and her thread.

It was at leaf 53 that he decided he could no longer bear it and there was no denying it... he was becoming a man. And he hated it, no matter how much he tried to clear his throat his voice remained deep, cracking only once in a while... he needed to make it better and knew that the only way to have Wendy with him, if she was there with him the hairs would go away and the voice would not crack and they'd laugh and pretend and it would be wonderful!

So that night, he told Tink to come... he was going back for his Wendy. She had protested at first but soon resigned and followed him obediently behind.

----------------------------------

_And I am giving up this game  
And leaving you with all the blame   
Cause I don't care_

To say she had made friends in the school would've been a lie and thought she had begun to see how dark it was to be an adult she could not bring herself to lie.

She had no friends and the girls all made fun of her while her back was turned, they talked about what a tom-boy she was, always excelling at the sports, reading books with pirates and Indians, wearing uniforms not as finely made as theirs and receiving so many letters from so many brothers.

Mrs. Swans, a strict old woman who was a hated prune by all the girls decided to give them girls assigned seats to prevent the chatter that usually arose in her class. There were tables, which seated six girls and she placed random girls together.

Wendy, to her horror, was placed with Anna Pavlovia, the snottiest creature she had ever beheld-- she was proud of her shinny black curls that hung down her mid back, and often she had been in the opposing end of her cool crystalline blue eyes that shinned with mischief and power. Often did she state that her father, Prince Pavlovia, had sent her as a present (which usually consisted of silks, fine chocolates from Paris or the latest and most fashionable beauty products which were allowed to 13 year old girls) With her was Helen Waterford, daughter of an English Duke, something she never failed to mention in a conversation, who received similar presents from her mother, Lady Waterford who often spent her days in Paris while her father was busy with matters of the state. Rachael Dimitri and Rosalind Luther both followed Anna and Helen's every step, in at most admiration though they themselves were from very old money which was what kept them in the inner circle of Pavlovia.

The only other person in her table which she might have considered of some company was Joanna Collins, her shyness had always pleased Wendy, knowing that there must be much more to the girl than what she let on but the shyness was so extreme that she would flee every time Wendy tried to speak to her.

While Wendy, diligently did her school work and tried to ignore the chattering going on with the girls at the table it could no longer be ignored when Mrs. Swans stepped out. Anna turned to the girls and smiled bright, her blue eyes sparkling. "He has written to me!"

Helen and Rosalind squealed in delight. 

"What did it say," demanded Rachael.

"It's perfectly wonderful!" cried Helen. "I wish I had a boy of my own."

The word 'boy' made Wendy's head snap up, her eyes wide with interest.

Anna caught her look. "Ever heard of a boy, Wendy? Do they have them in Cheapstreet?"

The girls giggled with jollity. "How horrid it must be to live in such a degrading place!" Helen cried.

Wendy's face turned bright red and she very much would've like to state what her opinion was of them and what their opinions about her family meant to her... but she didn't.

She smirked and straightened up. "I've actually kissed a boy." She stated calmly.

The chatter stopped in the entire room, all eyes turned to her, wide and surprised. Helen's smile faded, both Rachael and Rosalind gapped at Wendy, Anna's face burnt red with anger, and even the shy Joanna's head snapped up to look at her.

Wendy's mouth went dry.

"Have you?" Anna said, a slight mocking smile in her lips, she tossed back one shiny ebony curl, her pale hand settling underneath her chin in fake-keen interest. "Tell me, what was his name?"

Wendy looked quickly to them all, her palms were sweaty and her stomach doing jumps. "He... his name was Peter. Peter Pan."

The girls burst out laughing, clutching their stomachs with glee. 

"Peter Pan!" cried Helen. "What a joke!"

Wendy burned inside with anger. 

"He sounds horribly wild and unkempt," one of them said and Wendy couldn't help but wish that Peter would drop, right now from the ceiling and prove them all right which would only send them about screaming in fright and would have Wendy, in turn, laughing with mirth.

"I'll tell you how it felt!" she said, loudly.

Once again the laughing stopped and they all turned to look at her. Unexpected was what would describe what their eyes told, which made Wendy smile.

"His hair is golden like the sun as it sets, his skin is bronzed like Autumn leaves when they are freshly fallen and his eyes..." she closed hers. "His eyes are so very blue like the ocean after a storm. His lips give you a smile that melts you..." she opened her eyes and looked at them. "When I kissed him his eyes were closed. And when you've finally kissed someone you'll know that his lips will mold to yours and you'll feel the air coming from his nose, softly tingling your cheeks and for just a moment... just a moment. You are one. You are his and he is yours." She smiled. "A kiss... it's a powerful thing."

All of them were gaping her, some flushed, other stunned.

Moments of silence passed until she looked down.

"What a little liar you are, Wendy," Anna told her, calmly. Her hand no longer under her chin but with her hand raised, Mrs. Swans chose that moment to come back into the classroom, the girls looked back down to their studies, hushing into silence, all but Wendy and Anna who stared at each other.

"Yes, what is Miss. Pavlovia?" Mrs. Swans asked in annoyance.

Anna smiled, angelically. "While you were gone, Mrs. Swans, Wendy Darling decided to tell us a horrible lie about how she kissed a boy... and liked it."

Mrs. Swans' body went ridge as did Wendy's, the old woman snapped to look at Wendy, her wrinkled eyes narrowing dangerously.

"So, you enjoy telling lies, Miss. Darling?" 

Wendy went pale and flushed at the same time as a mixture of emotions crawled through her body. "I was... it was not a lie!" she cried. 

"Ahhh, I see." the woman said stiffly. "Come up here, Miss. Darling."

Wendy glanced at Anna and the other girls who were holding in their laugher. Tears swelled to her eyes but she held them back, she would not cry. She would not cry.

"Hold out your hand, Miss. Darling." the woman said, walking around the desk.

Wendy's eyes went wide, her body wanting to run as far as possible, as far away from here as she could go. The faces of her father and mother, so proud to finally be able to send her to a high-standing school were she would be properly educated... what would they say when they found her in their doorsteps? Ashamed, disappointed... it was all too much.

Meekly she held out her right hand, Mrs. Swans walked to her with a thin wooden stick in her hand and grasped her hand, palm side up. Raised the stick and brought it down swiftly on Wendy's palm.

Wendy gasped, tears of pain no longer holding in as she pulled her bruised hand against her chest. "Next lie will get you two fine lines and a letter to your dear parents. Am I understood?"

Misery took over her, wanting to scream that it had not been a lie. Wanting to grab the awful stick and hit her with it after she hit Anna.

"Y-yes, ma'am." she said quietly, sniffling, trying to hold in the sobs that were momentarily about to escape.

"You may go to your quarters," the woman told her, walking back to her desk. "Take your things and I want you to do four paragraphs instead of two on the Rise of the Habsburg empire."

Wendy nearly ran to her seat, grabbing all of her things without looking at anyone in the room and dashed off to her room, her bed.

When she was safe from prying and interested eyes she hid underneath the covers and sobbed her heart out... wondering if indeed kissing Peter had been a lie. All a lie and as unreal as the pain in her hand.

_Do you really have everything you want  
You could never give something you ain't got   
You can't run away from yourself  
  
Could you look me in the eyes and tell me that your happy now  
Come on tell it to my face or have I been replaced_

-----------------------

TBC....

A/N: Yes, I write angsty and I update about once a week. My story as you saw does cover more mature subjects and I suggest you be 15 years old to read this. 


	2. Not for Little Girls' Eyes

**"Not for Little Girls' Eyes"** (part 2 of '_My Brave Wendy_')

by Isabelle

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me, this is just done for entertainment. Chapter Disclaimers: 

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references)

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you.

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan", it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did.

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her.

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!!

-----------------------

"I miss Wendy, mother!" Michael cried as Mrs. Darling tucked the thick blanket around his small frame.

"I know, my angel and I'm sure she misses us too," she placed a kiss on his forehead. He sat next to him looking into her pockets and pulling out an envelope. "Would you like to read her latest letter once more?"

Michael sighed and shook his head. "Why so? It says nothing new!"

Mrs. Darling smiled at him softly and patted Teddy down. "I'm sure we'll be receiving news from her at any moment."

He nodded, in agreement then went pensive. "Mother, why are people so angry?"

She looked at him questioningly. "Which people?"

"The people in the streets, my teacher says a war will soon start!"

Mrs. Darling jumped, taken by surprise at his revelation, she'd have to speak to George about in the morning.

"The world is not always good, Michael. Sometimes, it's so bad sometimes than we have no choice but to go to war," she explained, patiently.

"Are we going to die?" he asked, his eyes wide and frightened. "What happens to Wendy if we die?"

"Good heavens, Michael!" she gasped. "Not on of us is going to die... not for a very long time."

Michael held his teddy closer to him. "Promise?"

She smiled and kissed him once more. "I promise."

When she stood she tucked in the rest of her boys and made for the door, leaving Nana in charge of the children. She didn't see the shadow lurking into the window.

----------------------

Wendy did not get to do her extra homework, her hand still ached too much to hold a pencil for more than a second at the time, but she didn't cry. Her tears had gone dry.

It was early in the morning when she woke, the rest of the girls enjoyed sleeping in a few minutes more before they got up and got ready for their subjects.

The angry red welts which had formed in her hand had now turned into a deep and angry purple bruise, one which she knew she'd have for days if not weeks; her skin had been becoming more and more sensitive lately... like mother's.

At the thought of her mother she held her breath. She wanted so often to be so like her, elegant and wise, gentle and kind... so many things that Wendy knew she was not. She had a long road before she'd get there and telling the other horrid girls about anything that had happened in Never Land was an awful idea as the ache in her hand reminded her.

She was in the lavatory when Anna and her girls came in, all bustling around her like she was a Queen Bee.

Wendy's anger re-flourished but decided to make a run for the exit before she were accused of anymore lies. 

"Going somewhere, Wendy?" asked Anna.

The girls stepped into her line of flight, and Wendy sighed internally but placed a brave face as she stared at them, head on. If Peter could be brave against Captain Hook then she could be braver against Anna Pavlovia.

"The girls and I were talking and we decided we wanted to hear more your... make-belief stories about Peter. He sounds..." she smirked. "... interesting."

Wendy cocked her head to the side and placed her hands on her waist. "Talking about anything with you, Anna is dangerous to one's health."

Rosalind let out a small giggle before she controlled herself and glared at Wendy along with the rest of the other girls.

"Do you know what will happen if I open my mouth against you, Wendy?" Anna said slowly and dangerously. "You would be expelled... gone. All my father has to do is send a letter and you're back to Cheapstreet with your own _kind_."

"And what kind is that, Anna? Honest, good people?" Wendy snapped, her anger flaring. 

"No, poor and desperate people whose role in life is to try to touch the hems of our dresses." Anna smiled, crossing her arms before her. "Even if you graduate from here, Wendy, no gentleman would want to marry you, you'd be lucky if you can snatch my butler."

The other girls laughed, laugher that was cut off when loud explosions were hear, shaking the school. They could hear girls screaming and then something Wendy thought never to hear again... gun shots.

"Hide!" she cried, running out to the main room. 

Girls, teachers and what appeared to be soldiers were running wildly around the large mansion, screaming, some falling on the floor painting the floor red with blood.

Wendy screamed as a body came tumbling down the stairs but her mouth was grabbed and she was pulled backwards into a closet door.

"Shh, Wendy!" she was let go and she promptly turned to look at who is was. It was Joanna. She sighed in relief.

"What's happening?" Wendy whispered, her voice shaken by terror.

"Someone of importance was visiting with Miss. Longvein, the principal, and then all of the sudden soldiers came in asking for the man who was here and shooting, it's all I know!" Joanna said hurriedly, surprising Wendy since she had not heard the girl say more than five words since she'd first seen her.

"We need to get out, find help!" Wendy said, urgently.

"I know of a place we can hide until they leave," Joanna told her, jumping as a loud bag was heard outside.

Wendy nodded. "Run!" she cried, Joanna opened the door and both girls ran through the screams, the blood and the horrible sound of death around them.

Joanna took them through the main dormitory where Wendy had come from and towards the back, were the small stairs that led to the dark attic were hidden.

"Wendy!" 

Wendy stopped and turned. Anna, Helen and Rosalind were crying, Helen with her arms filled with an apparently dead Rachael. Wendy gasped. "Come, we're hiding," she told them, unable to let the girl's body distract her.

Anna and Rosalind followed her without question, Helen stared at Rachael's body. "We can't leave her!"

"She's already gone, Helen!" Wendy cried. 

Helen let the body drop from her hands, her own uniform drenched in blood and hurried towards Wendy. 

"C'mon!" Joanna told them as the girls ran up the steep and dark stairs. 

"They'll find us!" Anna whispered, harshly.

"They wont! I know were to hide!" Joanna told her, leading the group up.

"They're going to search everywhere, I know they are!" Rosalind cried, her whole body trembling.

"Just go!" Snapped Wendy, pushing the girls up until they came to what looked like a locked door.

Joanna turned from the door to face the wall on the left side of it. She placed her hands on the cement and began pressing at it.

"What is this?" Anna demanded.

"It's a secret--" something snapped inside the wall. "....there! It's a secret passage, used by the late Lords when their manors were being attached by the savages."

Before them the wall that once seemed flat and perfect created a small opening small enough so that the girls could fit if they squatted down.

"Get in!" Joanna cried, pushing Anna in. 

The proud girl looked at the opening with question but was left with no choice than to squat down and enter the passage. Rosalind whimpered the entire time as she herself made her way in as did Helen. 

"No you, Wendy," Joanna told her. 

Wendy nodded and squeezed herself into the small opening, feeling Joanna close behind her she crawled down what seemed like a black tube. 

"How much further?" Wendy whispered to Joanna. 

"A few more steps," she girl whispered back. 

And then she fell... only a foot down, she rolled on the ground and came to halt. She sat up and stared at the room. It was pitch black and she couldn't see not even the hands before her.

"Joanna?" she asked.

"Wendy!" It was Rosalind. "I can't see anything!"

"Me neither, be quiet!" Wendy snapped at her.

"Where's Joanna?" Wendy asked, staying where she was at, afraid if she moved she'd fall again.

"She probably left us here to die!" Anna cried in the dark. Wendy could sense the deep fear in her voice, the same that must be running through hers.

"She wouldn't--"

There was suddenly light as a match was lit. Wendy turned to see Joanna standing, lighting a candle.

"I wouldn't," Joanna answered for herself, turning to the girls once the candle was on. 

"What is this place?" asked Wendy, as she inspected the small room she realized it looked very much like a nice small study. With a leather couch on the corner, some small coffee tables and many book lying around.

"A shelter, apparently." Joanna said, going across the room to light another candle.

"It's unreal!" Rosalind cried, staring in awe at the room. 

"I found it the day you made me go up the attic stairs for your enjoyment," Joanna told Anna who seemed still shaken but turning red.

"It's a good thing I did, then."

The silence was shattered when more gunshots were heard. Helen screamed but Wendy promptly placed her hand over her mouth.

"This is not happening," Anna said quietly. 

"I'm afraid it is," Wendy said after a while. Anna turned to her.

"I'll contact my father, he'll know what to do! And when he comes, all these men will die for their barbarism!" Anna cried, tears running down her usually perfect cheeks.

"We're at war, Anna. Your father can do nothing but pray you've been spared," Joanna told her, calmly.

"They're going to find us!" Helen cried, her body shaking like a leaf.

"They wont, I told you!" Joanna snapped. "I sealed the doorway, unless you know where it is you wont come... and no one has come here in the past four years that I've known of it. No one will come now."

"I wish I knew what was happening... I wish Peter was here," she added in a whisper.

"Would you stop?" Anna snapped. "Can't you see it's no time for lies?"

Wendy stared at her blankly. "I told you already, it's not lies. If Peter heard of what's happened to me... he'd come. He'd be here so fast the soldiers wouldn't know what happened to them!"

"_If_ Peter were real, which I doubt he obviously hasn't come yet and wont!" Anna told her harshly. "He can't care as much as he's told you."

Wendy's insides were turned to mush as her words hit her. She would not cry in front of this girl... she would not cry for Peter ever.

"Leave her alone, you brat," Joanna snapped. "So many dead and all she can do is call her a liar!" She walked to the small bookshelf in the room and pulled a few books out.

"Come, from here you can see Miss. Longvein's office!" Joanna whispered to them. "But you have to be quiet, they'll hear us otherwise!"

"You've been spying on Miss. Longvein!" Rosalind cried, indignant.

Joanna glared at her. "Do you want to see or not?"

"We do!" Wendy answered and followed Joanna with the rest of the girls close behind her.

Carefully turned a small knob and then pulled, a small compartment opened and it revealed two small holes. The door to Miss. Longvein's office was open and inside was an older man, Miss. Longvein and what looked to be several soldiers armed with rifles, guns and swords.

"It's General Roshvack!" Anna whispered, signaling to the old man.

"Shh!" Joanna glared at her.

One young soldier came into the room and walked to the one soldier who was sitting comfortable on top of the desk. 

"All dead?" the man asked the young soldier.

"Yes, General Dosmasky; all the children and the staff are dead." the soldier replied, bowing slightly.

"Good," the Dosmasky said and turned to the other General that Anna had recognized.

"You fools! A war is about to break and you're attacking a school!" General Roshvack cried. 

Dosmasky pulled out a small gun, checking the ammunition.

"You're the old fool. The war has already begun!" with that he aimed the gun at Roshvack's head and shot him.

The girls all jumped and Helen started to cry, rocking back and forth.

Next Miss. Longvein was grabbed and brought to the General, tears were running down her face but she was staring at him with defiance. Miss. Longvein was not and older woman, she was in her early 30's having inherited the elite school from her father, her blonde hair was always in a bun and even thought she was not a beautiful woman, her features were handsome.

"Amelia, dear... it's tragic that we shall have to part this way," he touched her chin, inspecting her. "I would leave you a bank note for the damage but seeing as you wont live to see it re-built I don't see the point. Do you?"

"If you're not burnt alive you'll be burnt in hell, General." she answered him back and Wendy was reminded of herself when Captain Hook gave her the option of death. Death could be an adventure, she had decided long ago.

The General laughed and placed his gun on the desk. 

"My boys have been on the road for a long time..." he smirked at her, his eyes roaming to her chest in a way that made Wendy's stomach queasy. "... be a dear and... relieve them, eh?"

He threw her to the other four soldiers who were laughing and he walked out of the room, a pleasant stride in his step. Behind him Miss. Longvein screamed and struggled, the soldiers slammed her on top of her desk and started pulling at her skirts, her legs were kicking and she was sobbing now, begging them to stop.

Joanna quickly closed the seeing eyes and placed the books back with shaking hands. Once it was closed she turned to look at Wendy. "We can't be found", she said, more calmly than what she felt.

Wendy wanted nothing more than to puke of the horror, her brain was swaying and her legs felt like Jell-O. Even if she ran away to Neverland once more she could never be a child again. Ever. 

Helen and Rosalind were sobbing, holding on to each other. Wendy turned to Anna who was barely standing like her. "We wait 'till they leave then we grab the warmest clothes we can muster, the supplies we'd need and we'll go. On foot. Apparently there's no police left... we can trust no one but ourselves."

"On foot?" Anna asked, making no attempt to hide her tears. "To where? The alps?"

Wendy stared at her. "If we must."

"You're mad!" Anna cried. "We'll be found... they'll kill us!" She turned towards the seeing hole. "Or worse."

Wendy remained impassive. "I'm taking my own chances... I'm going home. You stay and do what you want with your own life."

---------------------------------------

London fog, he realized, stuck on to your bare skin. Perhaps, he thought, it's the reason the people of London whore so much clothes. The great clock was singing when he arrived at the Darling window, that memorable nursery window were this entire mess had started.

He peered inside, noting instantly that the window wasn't as large as he remembered... the house wasn't as large as he remembered. It was no longer towering and monstrous... it was relative to his size.

The thought and realization burned through his stomach and the need to find Wendy overtook him. He quickly peered inside, seeing the beds filled with sleeping bodies and no _parents_ around or dog that barked for no reason, and swiftly let himself inside. 

Tinkerbell was quick to jump from bed to bed, sending muffling sounds of waking children about the room. 

"Tink!" Peter hissed snatching her, annoyed that he couldn't first find Wendy before having to deal with all the lost boys. "We're here to find Wendy, not wake the household!"

She looked at him innocently though a devil's tail was slowly growing from behind her. Peter gave her a stern look before letting her go once more.

A light was turned and Peter quickly pulled out his dagger, floating in the air.

"It's Peter!" A young boy with bright red hair and a freckled face was smiling brightly at him. 

The other bodies started waking from their beds, boys rubbing their eyes and others groaning in protest.

"Michael, what is going on?" 

"John, it's Peter. Peter Pan!" Michael cried, leaving his bed and walking to Peter who was looking at him curiously. "You've come back, Peter!"

"I have," Peter said carefully. "Where's Wendy? And who are you?"

"I'm Michael, Peter. Don't you remember?"

"I'm John... and these are the ones who used to be lost boys!" he pointed to the group assembling around him.

Peter looked thoughtful. 

"Being in Neverland makes you forget," explained Toddles.

"Peter, you've... changed!" John cried, studying him. 

"You're growing up, Peter!" another boy cried.

This made Peter leap into the air and away from their touches. "Where's Wendy? She'll know how to fix it!" he cried, his heart pounding in this chest.

Michael stepped forward and looked up at Peter. "She's gone, Peter."

These words brought the growing boy down, sadness evident in his face. "Gone? Gone where?"

"Mother and Father thought it best if Wendy went to Boarding School... in Switzerland." explained John.

"Boarding School? Switzerland?" Peter cried. Wendy was supposed to be in the nursery, waiting for him to come back, waiting for him to take her back to Neverland and have many more adventures. "I'll find her! I'll bring her back!"

"No, Peter... you can't!" Toddles told him. "She's grown up, Peter... you've been gone for over a year and she agreed that it was time to ... grow up."

"No!" shouted Peter, his face red with anger. "She wont grow up! I wont let her. I'll take her from this Boarding School and off to Neverland!"

"But you're growing up, Peter!" Michael reminded him, his eyes innocent.

"I'm not! Once I find Wendy I'll stop growing up, I'll be a boy once more!" He cried.

They were all startled when the nursery door was opened and in stepped a lovely lady in a long burgundy robe.

"Boys!" she cried. "Why are you awake at this hour?"

"Sorry, mother... but look," John pointed at Peter who was still distraught over the news from Wendy.

Mrs. Darling gasped, starring at the scantly-clad youth. "Who is this?"

"It's Peter Pan, mother. He's come back for Wendy to take her to Neverland so she'll never grow up!" Michael cried, very proud of himself.

Peter glared at him letting a grown up in on his plan.

Mrs. Darling gasped and stared in horror at Peter. "You will not take her!"

"Where is she?" Peter demanded. "I must find her!"

"She's in Switzer--"

"Michael!" his mother chastised. She turned to Peter. "Young man, explain yourself."

"I'm not a man, I'm, a boy," he pushed his dagger into it's holding place, glaring at Mrs. Darling. 

"Taking a young girl from her parents and off to another place seems like a very adult-thing to do," she told him calmly.

"Honestly mother, Peter means no harm!" John told her, stepping closer.

Mrs. Darling considered Peter, clasping her robe tighter against her. "Wendy is not here."

"I know," he stared at her. "Where can I find her?"

"Peter, dear... shouldn't we talk about this... preferably in the morning?" She told, more calmly.

Peter back up from her approaching figure. "No, I need to find her now."

"She's days from here, darling," she told him, walking Michael to his bed.

Peter followed her. "I fly, you know, I'll be there in a few minutes."

Mrs. Darling sighed. "I'm sure you can, but you wouldn't be able to find your way."

He looked defiantly at her. "I'll find Wendy, I can feel her."

Mrs. Darling gasped, and took hold of her robe once more. "_Feel_ her?"

"Yes, I can sense her, she's _my_ Wendy," he told, plainly.

Mrs. Darling straightened up and smiled at him. "I'm sure you think so, darling... but Wendy is at school and we don't expect her back until Winter."

"At what time is winter?" he asked.

"Time?" she asked, baffled.

"Yes, time," he told her, annoyed.

"Well... it's in 3 months at least. Three months until she gets her Winter break."

Peter considered this. "How long is three months?"

She sighed and sat on Michael's bed. "It's a very long time, dear. Why don't you come back then, I'm sure she'll be delighted to see you."

Peter shook his head. "No, I need Wendy now. Any more time and I will continue to grow! Look!" he lifted his arm and pointed at his hairy armpit. "Hair!"

Mrs. Darling chocked and adverted her eyes. "Yes, hair." she agreed. "All growing boys get hair, Peter. That is life."

Peter looked at her in horror. "But I don't want to grow up! I want to stay a boy and have fun! I need Wendy, she'll know what to do!"

"Peter, honestly, Wendy cannot stop you from growing up," Mrs. Darling tried to tell him. "And growing up... it doesn't mean you stop having fun, dear."

Tears filled his eyes as he looked wildly around the room. "Please, just let me find her."

Mrs. Darling looked at him for a while then nodded. "Only if you promise not to take her to Never... to Neverland." Peter took a moment to consider this. Then nodded. "And... and you don't give her false hopes."

"What is _false hopes_?" he asked, clearly confused.

Mrs. Darling smiled at the near man yet a boy very much. "I think you'll understand when you're older."

Peter blanched.

"Sorry," she apologized. "Now, let's see... how can I tell you where she is?"

Her thoughts were jarred as the door of the nursery was once again slammed opened and Mr. Darling ran in. 

"Mary!" he cried. "Look!" he trust a newspaper at her. "Jonathan brought me by the paper minutes ago, he said I'd need to read it."

"School for girls attacked, hundreds dead," Mrs. Darling read. "Oh George! This is Wendy's school!"

--------------------------

TBC.....

A/N: I know many of you are waiting for Peter and Wendy to finally see each other, but I should tell you that this is a story were they are trying to get to each other and probably wont be re-united for sometime. Just letting you all know. Thank you so much for the feedback, I really appreciate it! 


	3. And it Begins

**And it Begins** (part 3 of '_My Brave Wendy_') 

by Isabelle 

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me, this is just done for entertainment. Chapter Disclaimers: 

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references) 

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you. 

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan", it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did. 

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her. 

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!! 

Appreciation: Special thanks to Rogue, who is my dedicated beta—thank you, girl!

---------------------

They say there isn't a place too deep or too far that can keep you away from those you love; that you can feel them, feel their very soul until it's simply an extension of yours. Feeling as such has no explanation, chemical equations or air of hypocrisy; it simply feels therefore it's real. Matters not the age.

Peter _knew _ she was not dead. The reason he knew it was because if she were gone he would also be gone. She was him and he was her, and like a fairy who dies from lack of belief he would fade from lack of Wendy.

He was very much still solid. Worried, yes he was... but he would find. Even if it would take him lifetimes, he would find his Wendy. 

"She's not dead," he spoke and through the confusion in the nursery all stopped talking and stared at him.

"Who are you?" Mr. Darling asked, clearly confused though shaken by the news of Wendy.

"It's Peter Pan, father!" John volunteered.

Mr. Arched his brow and stared at the young man before him, he was most definitely not a child... _this _ was the company that followed his little Wendy while she was gone. Perversion! 

Mrs. Darling stood up and looked at Peter, her features desperate. "Peter, darling what do you mean you know... she's not de--"

"Don't say it!" Peter snapped, his features hard. "I know she's not dead... I can feel her."

"Feel her?" Mr. Darling cried, outraged.

Peter stared at him, impassively. So _this_ was the other man in Wendy's life. A father. No, _he_ was father. _He _was… and Wendy was mother.

"Ever since she gave the thimble," he flushed lightly to his credit. "... I've been able to feel her." he stopped and placed his hand on his chest. "In here, I feel her."

Mr. Darling gapped at him. "A thimble?"

John cleared his throat. "A kiss, father."

"A KISS?" he was even more outraged, turning to glare at the young man before him. "Now see here!"

"George!" Mrs. Darling cried, putting her hands on his. "Let the boy speak."

Mr. Darling glared at Peter. "He's no _boy, _Mary! It was him whom Wendy was with, are you not in the least bit outraged?"

"I am a boy too!" Peter cried, backing out of the room.

"Peter, come with me, darling. George, you stay here." Mrs. Darling instructed. Peter floated after Mrs. Darling, glowering at Mr. Darling as he passed by him.

"Insolent!" Mr. Darling hissed under his breath.

Once outside the nursery Mrs. Darling closed the door and faced Peter who was staring at her curiously. He was shaking from anticipation, he _needed_ to find Wendy, and he was loosing time here.

"Peter, please explain to me what is it you feel for Wendy," she said calmly. "I promise I won't be upset, just tell me."

Peter's eyes went wide and he was all too soon reminded of Wendy in the woman before him, speaking of feelings, ruining everything... "I don't have feelings."

Mrs. Darling's eyes softened. "Why do you find feelings so bad, Peter?"

Peter sighed, looking around the hall. "We're wasting time, Wendy is out there, in danger and she needs my help!" He threw his hands on the air.

"She does," she told him, coming closer. "But there are things besides life that she needs saving from."

Peter blanched at her. "Like what?" He had not thought Wendy to be in any other kind of trouble.

"I've never seen my little girl so sad, Peter. Why, why does she carry an acorn around her neck?" it was a rather desperate question.

"...my kiss... she keeps my kiss?" he visibly relaxed, peering at her.

"She keeps much more than that, Peter. She keeps hope. Hope that you will return, hope that you'll grow... that you'll grow old with her," Mrs. Darling was shaking, not sure if she should have this conversation with a fifteen-year old... but then again he could be much older and much younger.

"Grow old?" Peter asked, panicked.

"We all grow old, Peter. It's life," she said, smiling.

"I don't! I won't grow old!" 

"But she will!" she cried. "And I, for one, will not let her waste her life by a window waiting for a man who _won't_ grow up to come and take her away." Peter's face went pale as he backed up, shaking his head. "And what will you do, Peter, when you come back... and she'll no longer be there, Peter?"

"She will! She will be there and she won't grow old!" He cried, tears on the verge of spilling.

"Peter..." her voice shook in desperation. "Yes she will. She'll grow old; grow old without you because you're still playing games."

"I'm a boy, I'm still a boy!"

Mrs. Darling quickly reached for his shoulders and turned him around, he was stunned to find a mirror there.

A mirror. He's only seen a mirror once, in Hook's cabin. It had been shattered by the pixies moments later but Wendy had explained what a mirror was. 

A reflection of one's self.

No longer was there a sandy blond haired youth looking at him... it was a man. Granted a young man but a man nonetheless. His jaw was defined, a jaw that fit with his deeper voice, his chest though still thin was well muscled and sculpted, his shoulders had grown broader and his cheeks were loosing their baby fat. He screamed and struggled from her grasps. 

"I must find Wendy, she'll know what is happening to me, she'll fix it, I know she will!" his eyes were desperate, wide and full of tears. 

"Everyone grows up, Peter." she told him quietly. "Even you."

Tears started to splatter on his cheeks. "I don't want to grow up, if I grow up it means I have to die someday!"

"I would've thought death would be an adventure to you, Mr. Pan."

Peter's jaw tightened and the looked at her almost wildly, "I will find Wendy. I will bring her back."

"Then what?" Mrs. Darling asked, her hands clasped before her.

"Then… then I'll decide," Peter told her, angrily wiping the tears from his face.

She studied him for a moment before nodding and asking him to follow. "We'll give you instructions on how to get there… and Peter?"

"Yes," he asked, his eyes not trusting her.

"Take care of her… please."

"I always have," he smiled.

With all the trouble that was cursing her at the moment, Mrs. Darling couldn't help but smiled at the young man. She could definitely see how Wendy could be so fascinated by him.

----------------------------------------`

It has been a good twelve hours before the soldiers cleared what once was a proud school. The girls had watched as they dragged countless bodies to a pile on the back of the house and burnt them.

Helen was still shaking, pale and almost incoherent, Rosalind was almost the same but in many ways Wendy believed she didn't quite grasp what had happened. Anna was still staring at her with cool iced eyes and for all that was worth she was incredibly grateful for Joanna, she was the buoyancy that kept them afloat.

The moment they were able to re-enter the dormitory Wendy started grabbing her warmest clothes and pulling them on, then padding her feet tightly with wool socks and walking shoes. She gloved her hands and made her hair into a tight clean braid that went down to her mid back. She silently grabbed a traveling pack from the empty bed next to hers… whoever it was couldn't use it anymore and she needed it.

"You're stealing from the dead!" Cried Anna, her face contorted into hatred.

Wendy continued to pack the necessary belongings into it. "I'm going to need it more than she."

"Horrible! You're simply horrible!" Anna cried, reaching to rip the bag from her.

"What's more horrible, Anna? That I take the bag or for you to find out that the bag belonged to one of the girls you used to rip into sheets?" Wendy snapped, taking the bag out of Anna's grasps.

Anna's eyes went wide and she stared at the bed were it had come from.

"It won't be long before people start going through _your things, Anna."_

"They won't!" she cried. "I'm not dead! I'm not meant die this way! I am a Romanov, do you know what that is?" she snapped.

Wendy rolled her eyes but didn't deter from her packing. "Will that keep you alive?"

"It most certainly will! Killing me would mean war!"

"We already are at war, Anna! Snap out of it!" Joanna cried from her corner of the dormitory. "Do you think the Colonel's limp body was make belief? Or Miss. Longvein's…"

"Stop!" Helen cried, speaking for the first time in hours. Her face was still pale but her involuntary shaking had subsided. "We need to leave, we need to survive… we need to live and we need each other to do it! We have to stop fighting amongst ourselves!"

Wendy looked at in awe, something she had not been able to do since she had met the girl. "Yes. Dress well, Helen and take necessary supplies of your own. We'll leave in an hour. Rosalind, can you go down to the kitchens and find as much food that we can take as possible?"

Rosalind first looked at Anna, who had said nothing and then nodded, making her way to the kitchens.

"Anna, if you're coming with us, look around to anything the soldier's might have left behind… like weapons and such." Wendy told her, tightly closing her bag.

Anna took a deep breath, not breaking eye contact with Wendy then mutely walked out for her search.

"Wendy… do you know how to fight?" Joanna asked her, tentatively.

For a moment in time her world was frozen around her and she was back at the black castle, crossing blades with Peter. It was sweet to be so young that her only worry was Hook. Hook seemed like a moth spot from were she was standing. Hook was a lesser evil. Here, the world was coming down all around her and she couldn't stop it with a sword.

"Yes." She looked up at Joanna. "I can handle blades and guns."

Joanna smiled at her. "Good."

-------------------------------------`

Peter couldn't comprehend why Mrs. Darling gave him so much food, usually he would get what he needed for the moment, but here she was making him think for the long head. 

He would need food and money (which Mr. Darling provided grudgingly) and a map which Peter didn't understand at all. John had made a make-shift map, when they realized Peter couldn't read, with little drawings to let him know where he was. By the looks of the map they had sent Wendy to a very far place, he held his tongue when he wanted to ask exactly why they had sent her away, but he didn't. The important thing was that he had to find her. He was also told to travel only at night as the sight of a flying boy would frighten people (something not really needed in these dark times, Mrs. Darling had said). 

Mrs. Darling started doing peculiar things which Peter had never seen done before. She started finding coats for him to wear, gloves, hats and all sorts of things that just made him feel stuffy. She also made sure he had eaten so much he could feel his stomach dropping as he lifted into the air. He proudly told her he did not wear a coat… but once John showed him a painting of the Alps he quickly took it, and said no more. 

She placed a hat on him (which he would admit he liked) and thick wool gloves, all the food and supplies were placed in a sack that hung heavily on his back. He assured them that it was just a short flight away… they didn't listen.

By them time he was finally out of the house he looked like he was going hiking and nothing helped his spirits. Especially the fact that he only had a few hours to fly before the sun would come out once more and he would have to hide.

"Adults are peculiar, aren't they?" he asked Tink (who had wisely hidden while he had been assaulted with sweaters and salted meat).

She giggled at him and flew ahead, insisting that she knew were she was going.

He, of course, didn't believe her but also didn't protest. If he kept heading across the ocean he was crossing he would eventually hit the main land like Mr. Darling had instructed.

He would find Wendy within a few hours… he just knew it!

-------------------------------------`

By the time Wendy and the girls were all set to leave it was nearing sunset.  The air was frosty and chilled, so cold that it cut right to their bones though they were covered in everything and anything they could find.

"Looks like a storm is coming," Joanna commented.

Wendy nodded, though she had never seen so harsh a weather her body told her she was about to find out. "We better move out of here before anyone else comes, head west… see if we can find some shelter."

Anna had grumbled the entire way; the others (including Rosalind and Helen) had chosen to ignore her, all too busy trying to make sure they had all they needed. Each of them, with large carrying cases on their backs started through the back roads of the school, keeping to the shadows as they walked to the edge of what once used to be a beautiful property but now stank with the stench of death.

Burnt bodies, to be specific. 

Helen whimpered as they passed the giant bonfire which held the corpses of their classmates, professors and staff. Wendy ignored it, she refused to look. She had already seen more death than she'd ever like to experience. 

"Let's see if we can leave town before finding shelter… this should be the hardest part. Don't talk unless you have to, stay to the shadows and if they stop you say you're going to tend to your sick mother who has yellow fever." Joanna told them once they were facing the main part of town. "That should keep them away; they'll think you're infected."

The girls nodded and followed after her and Wendy, dodging people on the streets, avoiding eye contact with anyone and keeping to themselves. For the most part they were ignored, poor children, probably sick, probably beggars.

Wendy was almost assured that they had had a clean break when a large hand was placed on her shoulder,

She froze… and turned to look up.

A soldier, an older soldier with stubby beard and glistening, sweaty skin sneered down at her.

"'ello there, my beauty," he smirked. "Where are you headed on this cold day and in such a hurry?"

---------------------------------------`

TBC….

(A/N: I truly do want to thank you all for the feedback, without I don't think I would be this excited about writing once more. This chapter was a bit shorter but stopped there for a reason ;) For those of you who keep asking me if I've seen "Courage Mountain", yes I have it's one of my favorite film and while searching for a plot for the Peter fiction I kept coming blank until I decided to incorporate the idea of "Courage Mountain" with the fiction, regardless I hope you enjoy it! I have just re-started the new semester so I know I won't be getting chapters out as fast as I did the first three but bear in there, it shall be finished.

For a complete, beta'd version of this fiction, I will be posting it at my fiction site 

www.plastic-slut.com/purplepoet 

you're always welcomed to come and look, each chapter comes with it's own banner! J )


	4. Starting Over

Starting Over (part 4 of '_My Brave Wendy'_) 

by Isabelle 

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me; this is just done for entertainment. Chapter Disclaimers: 

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references) 

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you. 

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan"; it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did. 

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her. 

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!! 

Appreciation: Special thanks to Rogue, who is my dedicated beta—thank you, girl! 

----------------------------

Death brings only red moons.

Nothing brought the night to it's closing like the red rays of the sun. Peter knew... he knew red blood had been spilled that night. The world stank of it; making the grass limp, making the trees lifeless, making the animals wild.

Death was all around him and death was with him, hunting him until the little hairs in the back of his neck contacted with a kiss and take, making him shudder in what was left of the night...

... but he continued to fly, fly until his arms were sure to break, until his feet longed for the feel of green leaves and coming rain.

He had never felt such fear, never felt such desperation and in moments when the wind was little he would almost belch at the thought of him being too late. He would get images of finding her when she was already gone, blood tainting her perfect face, eyes opened and cold with no life in them.

He would close his eyes against the images and will them to die and rot away but they were there, haunting and teasing him ten times worse than any image of husbands and locked windows could produce.

He _would _find her on time; her eyes would be bright with life and her cheeks free of blood.

He would find her.

He would.

Tink rested on his back when the dawn's first rays started to bathe the land before him, hidden behind the lapels of his coat. How he wished he was small enough to hold only one emotion at the time!

Hundreds of emotions were flashing before him, all took quick for him to neither understand nor process. He would loose time, resting and hiding... so he decided to travel on foot while the day made its presence.

He told this to Tink who simply responded that he should rest also. 

His reply?

He would not rest until he found her. He would not rest until she was safe.

By 6am he had reached the outskirts of Brussels, finding himself a small country farm he hid in the stables until the milking cow had been taken out to pasture and the father had gone into town.

Quickly, talked to the large horse that was acutely aware of his presence, making sure it understood he mounted it, shielding himself against the cold morning air and started his journey on the ground.

-----------------------------------------

Wendy's mouth went dry, her throat parching at the look the man was giving her... it made her entire body tremble with fright and she unconsciously pulled her coat higher on her neck.

"I... we-" She tried to form words but somehow his figure seemed to tumble over her, covering her like a dooming shadow. 

"Running off, were ya?" he leaned in even more, his breath making her grimace at its stench.

"No, I was… my mother! My mother has yellow fever! My sisters and I were running to get some herbs!" Her eyes were wide and her toes crossed, hoping that this man would simply let her go.

"Yellow fever?" he looked disgusted then roughly let her go. "Go on with you!" He pushed her into the other girls who quickly stumbled to get as far from him as possible.

Once they rounded the corner and were away from his angry stare, and slight cursing Wendy realized she was shaking. Truly shaking.

"It's alright, Wendy. We're ok, you're ok," Joanna told her.

But she couldn't stop shaking, she felt like she was going to break down. "T-that was too close," she stuttered, her teeth making slightly clanking noises. "We need to find a hiding p-place, hide until they leave the town."

Helen nodded her eyes just as wide as Wendy's, her trembling even more prominent.

"C'mon," Joanna encouraged them. "These roads lead out of town, soon enough we'll be able to find shelter…." She looked at the sky which was thick with clouds. Snow was coming. Snow was coming soon. "It's going to be a long night," she murmured under her breath.

Tough Wendy didn't tell anyone, and she probably didn't believe it herself, but as her heart was pounding still in her chest she was sure she heard Peter cry out her name.

-----------------------------------------`

Around the time of sunset there was a sharp pang in Peter's chest and the first thing that came to his mind was that Wendy was scared. More than scared, it was a deadly fright that took her for a moment and it felt like a sword penetrating his chest.

He had gasped, fallen from the horse and screamed.

Tink had later told him that he had clearly shouted Wendy's name, she then proceeded to make fun of her long hair. He ignored her and grabbed his things from the horse, as tired as his body was he leapt up into the air thinking of how soon he would find her.

It was not entirely dark yet but he couldn't wait. Separated from her was like dying slowly and if there was one thing Peter Pan knew was that he was not ready to die.

-----------------------------------------`

She stared at their family portrait, one they had taken only a few months back. The entire family was smiling. Except one.

Wendy had on the saddest of smile, so sad that Mrs. Darling decided to call it a frown, and frowning herself as she never realized it before. She should've known something was amiss with her daughter. Something had saddened her so much that it was like the very light of her soul was slowly being put out.

Her delicate fingers traced out her perfect little face; she had looked so lovely that day with a new green dress her George had bought her, congratulating her for being accepted at Longvein's Academy for Refined Young Ladies. She had not seen it, she had been blinded by the happiness of getting her children back, or getting new children, on finding a new fortune, on George opening his own Accounting firm… on so many things that she had been blind to what should've been most obvious to her.

Her own child's happiness.

A warm hand came to rest on her shoulder, so suddenly that it made her jump.

"It's me, Mary," George told her, coming down to kneel by her chair.

"Darling, you startled me," she told him, turning to smile at him as she placed her hand on top of his.

He kissed her temple and looked back down at the picture she was admiring. "We'll all be together once more, Mary. Don you worry."

She smiled kindly at him. "And let you do all the worrying?"

"It's worth a try, no?" 

The smile left her face. "She was so unhappy, George. Why didn't we see it?"

"Nonsense! She wasn't unhappy. I am prepared to wager that she didn't even think of this Pan-boy!" Mr. Darling said, his chest lifting in elation.

"Oh, George! Do be real!" she cried, standing up to face him. "They're in love!"

"Mary, of all the silly things to say! She's merely fourteen, just turned them in fact!" He cried, standing up to her. "He's a young man, yes but he thinks himself a boy, is this the sort of man we want for our daughter?"

"George, it's not for us to decide and in case you forgot let me very well remind you that you first saw me when you were twelve!" she grabbed her skirts and walked to their room.

He followed her, naturally. "Mary, really! We were silly children then; it wasn't until much later when I had the decency to speak to you!"

"Exactly."

"Exactly? What exactly?" George asked, confused.

"You're being a child about this, George. The children wont stay children forever despite the otherwise placed opinion." She started undoing her necklace. "And they'll fall in love and marry, and for Wendy that can be only year away."

"We'll talk about this when the time comes, Mary. Really!"

He was exasperated, so he ignored her and went about untying his shoes.

"She's in love and he loves her back," Mary told him after minutes of silence.

"He won't stay, Mary." George told her, his hand coming up to take his glasses off so he could rub his tired eyes.

Mrs. Darling looked down to her pearls which rested peacefully in the middle of her palm. "He might grow up."

"He might," Mr. Darling agreed.

--------------------------------------`

They had walked about one mile when the flakes that the heavens milked started to descend on them, painting their hairs with crystallite kisses that fell from the sky.

But then the wind started coming, cold mountain air that went right to their bones, chilling them until Wendy could hardly breathe. They were leaving the town, yes, but the road that lead away from it was simply going higher and higher.

The mountain climbing has begun.

After about two hours in the know, when their feet were almost numb and they were shaking uncontrollably a large farm appeared in the distance.

"Shelter!" Anna cried, pointing at it.

"We're saved!" Rosalind agreed, as did the rest of the girls, hopes in their hearts raising that came with renewed strength.

Before Wendy knew it they had snuck into the barn as the family stayed snuggly in their house, roasting by the fire. 

"Did they see us?" Wendy asked Joanna who had shut the door behind them, leaving the growing storm to take its wind elsewhere.

"No, the snow is getting too thick and their windows are fogged." She told them, relaxing them a bit.

"We should start a fire," Wendy said, looking around for firewood.

"There's a box of matches here," Helen said, as she brought the small wood box to Wendy from the little table it had been resting at.

"Perfect!" Wendy took the matches from Helen and with Rosalind and Joanna they started gathering hay to start a fire.

Though it took several tries and a few matches, a small fire had been started and they sighed in contentment as it defrosted their cheeks and eyelashes, bringing color into their eyes.

"I've never been so glad for fire," Anna admitted, earning surprised looks from the entire group. "Not even in Russia, I used to have to spend the Holidays with my Aunt who lived in the eastern country, near Siberia… winters there got so cold you could get frostbite if you didn't walk every few hours. But the servants always kept the fire running… I was never this cold."

"I've been this cold… colder even." Joanna told them, her face hard as she stared at the fire.

"When?" Rosalinda asked after while. 

"I went traveling with my uncle and brothers one fall… through the alps. He's a radical, my uncle and even though they told him not to because of the changing weather he did it anyways." She bit her lower lip. "He taught me how to survive… that's why I know all this. He died before we were rescued. I and my two brothers were still alive because of him."

Wendy looked away, guilt covering her, almost shaming her. Here she was thinking her life had been hard because a boy had left her when other people in the world had seen so much more.

"I'm glad you know all this… I think we would've died if it weren't for you being here," Wendy told her softly.

Joanna sniffled. "Yeah… everything has its purpose."

"I'm hungry," Rosalind commented after a while of silence.

"I think we can afford some bread and cheese," Wendy told her, smiling.

"I'm sorry, Wendy," Rosalind said, suddenly.

A frown crossed Wendy's face, looking at her questioningly. "What for?"

"For being so horrible to you before," Rosalind told her, her bright brown eyes filled with tears.

Wendy smiled suddenly at her and handed her a piece of bread from the food bag. "I think we can place the past behind us, alight?"

"I apologize too," Helen told her suddenly, and then looked at Joanna. "And you too, Joanna."

Anna remained quiet, her face stoic as they girls laughed off the past and started sharing their food, silence gone and only good company left.

--------------------------------------------------`

He had become too tired, so very tired. His arms ached, his chest hurt from struggling for air at the high altitude he was, the cold was biting right through him like nothing he had ever experienced before but he kept on mumbling the same thing over and over;

'Must find Wendy, I must find Wendy.'

Tinkerbell urged him to rest, if only for a little while but he wouldn't hear her, even when she began to cry from worry as various times he didn't see mountains and almost ended embedded to the side of them.

But he kept going, with his heavy bag on his shoulder, weighing him down, a map he could hardly read before him, he kept going—fishing for happy thoughts as those too left him rather quickly. 

Without him knowing of it, he began descending, he was so focused on his mantra that he didn't feel the air becoming more breathable, the winds coming down faster and the snow coming in torrents.

Think was snuggly asleep in his coat pocket and it wasn't until she started shivering in her sleep that she warned him of where he was going. Peter looked started down, seeing the large frozen lake before him he panicked; the stress of the traveling, the grief over his growth and Wendy brought him no happy thoughts… and into the frozen lake he fell through with a loud _splash._

------------------------------------`

TBC….

A/N: Things that I thought were going o happen in this chapter didn't and they got pushed back, I'm going to have some time tomorrow evening so I might write some more, depends if I don't pass out of exhaustion. ;) Thank you, once more, for your lovely feedback!


	5. Memories We Keep

**Memories We Keep** (part 5 of 'My Brave Wendy') 

by Isabelle 

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me; this is just done for entertainment. Chapter Disclaimers: 

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references) 

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you. 

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan"; it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did. 

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her. 

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!! 

Appreciation: Special thanks to Rogue, who is my dedicated beta—thank you, girl! I also want to thank all of you Fanfiction.net reviewers who send me such lovely words of encouragement! I really appreciate it :)

-------------------------------------

_"He's coming, around, Marie!"_

_"Oh, thank God!"_

_"Shall I fetch him some soup, mother?"_

_"Yes, darling... do that."_

_"He's a strange looking young man, is he not?"_

_"Yes! If I dare say do, he is."_

_"I've started heating the stew, mother."_

_"Daniel, do find him something suitable to wear."_

_"Yes, my dear."_

_"It's a miracle he survived, poor thing!"_

_"He seems ... very strong."_

_"Julianne! Advert your eyes, young lady! Go fetch the stew."_

_"Yes, mother."_

_"Here, darling. Should fit him a bit loose but better than that."_

_"Yes, thank you, dear."_

He could hear their voices, their conversation, almost see their shadows move about the room though his lids were firmly closed. He was simply so very tired, his entire body ached and he wished and longed to be back in his home where nothing of this sort would ever happen.

But he was warm... finally he was warm. So warm. He hadn't felt this warm since Wendy had been in Neverland.... Wendy!

He sat up, eyes wide and fearful.

"Wendy!" he cried.

The woman before him jumped and cried of fright, the man next to her, held her back.

"Good gracious!"

"I need to find Wendy!" Peter cried again.

The man pushed the woman behind him and held his hands up kindly in front of himself. "Calm your self, lad. No one is to hurt you here. You're safe."

He was panicking, he looked around wildly searching for some string of recognition but nothing came to him. "It's not me who is in trouble! I have to find her."

"O-of course," the man said, too calmly for Peter to feel that the man understood the desperate situation.

"Where is she?"

"Is who?" the woman asked.

"Wendy!" he cried, standing up letting the sheet fall from his body.

The woman gasped and a young lady that came in at that moment looked at him, bushed red and then....fainted. He quickly looked down to reveal he indeed was missing all of his clothing. He quickly grabbed the sheet once more, wrapping it around himself.

"Julianne!" the woman cried, looking down at the fallen girl. "Daniel, help!"

The man stopped looking at Peter and pulled out a small vial, waving it over the girl's nose. The girl suddenly gasped, sitting straight up.

"Mother, he was nak--" she turned to look at Peter then proceeded to scream.

Peter cried out himself, frightened, and cornered himself against the wall.

"Hush up, you silly girl!" the man hissed, standing up to face Peter. "You're scaring him!"

"Come, Julianne, this is no place for a young lady!" the woman said, standing her up and pulling her out of the room though the girl keep staring at Peter in an almost daze.

Once they had left the room the man turned to Peter and chuckled. "Used to have that same effect on them once myself!" he looked very proud.

Peter looked at him like he'd grown another head.

The man's smile faded and he cleared his throat. "Right, then..." he sat on the bed. "So, young man. Care to tell us your name?"

Peter studied him, his body still poised for a fight. 

"Of course, I understand." the man continued. "My name is Daniel. Daniel Van Hurst."

"Peter. Peter Pan."

The man smiled once more. "Peter Pan. Good name.... so, by boy. How did you happen to end up in the middle of my frozen lake?"

"I was flying."

"I see."

Peter walked closer to him. "You don't believe me. I know, you're a grown up. Grown ups don't understand."

Daniel chuckled. "If I'm a grown up, what does that make you?"

"I'm a boy! As soon as I find Wendy all will be well." Peter told him, his ears turning red.

"Right, well. Why don't you put these on, we'll get you some food and then we'll talk, eh?"

Peter eyes the clothes the man had in his hand and nodded once. Daniel set them on top of the bed and walked out, leaving Peter to change.

By the time he changed and walked out of the door the household seemed much more tranquil. No screaming, fainting or gasping.

"There now, that's better." Daniel stood from his chair to meet him. 

"Thank you... for the clothes. I don't remember how I lost my own." Peter looked down at his attire. He hated it, he looked like a man.

"Oh, it's our pleasure!" The woman who had been in the room said as she came in, tray in hand. "Come eat, young man."

"I'm not hungr...." the smell of the stew hit him and his stomach growled in response. "I suppose I am a bit hungry."

"All of your... supplies were soaked to the bone," Daniel explained. "So you better eat."

Peter nodded, grabbing the spoon and basically gulping down the warm soup. His noise was loud, his slurping spilled off into the side off the tray while the woman gapped at his manners.

When he finished he smiled, contently. "That was amazing."

"Y-yes... well, I'm glad you enjoyed it," she told him, taking the tray back.

Daniel looked a bit bewildered. 

"I thank you for the clothes and the food... but I must go now."

"Go?" 

Peter's head snapped up to see the same girl who fainted starring at him from the room entrance.

"My daughter, Mr. Pan. Julianne Van Hurst."

The girl whose very blonde hair was tied into an elegant bun, dressed in a dark red dressed smiled charmingly at him and extended her hand.

Peter looked at it seriously.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Pan."

Her hand was still at his face and with reluctance he reached out and shook it, obviously too rough.

The girl gave a small cry, looking at him hurt.

"Sorry for making you die." Peter told her.

The girl blinked. "Die?"

"Died? Who died?" Daniel cried.

"Who is dead?" the woman asked, exasperated as she re-entered the room.

"She did... when she saw me..."

Julianne blushed so red she matched her dress. 

"Oh! Peter, she didn't die!" Daniel chuckled. "She merely had a fainting spell caused by the ... excitement." He cleared his throat.

Peter looked at the girl with mere disgust. Wendy would've never fainted. "Oh."

The woman laughed. "I did not introduce myself, dear. I am Marie Van Hurst, Daniel here is my husband."

Peter nodded at her. "I really am thankful for all you've done for me... but I have to be on my way."

"So soon, dear?" Marie questioned him.

"Oh yes! Wendy is in danger and I have to find her!"

"Wendy?" Daniel asked, lighting up his pipe. "Who is this Wendy, my lad?"

Peter's brows furrowed. "She's a girl."

Marie smiled. "Oh that is nice."

Julianne face fell, looking down at her hands.

"Your sister, perhaps?" Daniel asked and Julianne's head was raised in hope.

"Oh no!" Peter made a face of disgust. "I have no family."

"Oh you poor dear!" Marie cried, sitting down herself.

"It's alright! I don't need one. I just need my Wendy." Peter told them, standing up and looking out the windows.

"So... this Wendy. She's in trouble?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, I must find her before she dies!" he said, dramatically.

Marie gasped as did Julianne.

"My word!" Daniel said, exhaling the smoke.

"So you see, I have no time to waste, she's out there in the snow."

Daniel stopped and looked at his wife curiously. "Peter, how long have you been believing in this Wendy?"

Peter turned to look at them surprised. "Believing? She real!"

"Right, of course we don't doubt that," he chuckled nervously. "Do we, dear?"

Marie flushed and chuckled also. "Of course not, darling!"

Peter paid them no more thoughts. "I have to be on my way."

"But Mr. Pan, really! There's a storm coming you couldn't possibly travel under these condition," Julianne said as she stood up to him. "Do be reasonable and stay a few days with us... at least until the weather is more formidable."

And he did. Only for a little while, he told himself. As soon as the snow let out... then he right back to finding Wendy.

--------------------------------------------

It was almost frightening to say that they had almost become friends, Wendy pondered. Only a few nights ago when she felt a sharp pain within her chest as they walked they were kind to her and understanding though her grief was so great she thought she might die of sadness right then and there. All except for Anna, of course.

"I keep getting this feeling that someone is out hunting for me," she told the girls on early morning as they had just settled to rest over their open fire.

"You think the soldiers know?" Helen asked, her eyes wide. "The general?"

Wendy shrugged. "It's not a bad feeling, I suppose."

"Perhaps it's your father," Rosalind commented as she bit into her piece of dry bread.

Wendy shook her head. "Not father. He would never."

"Mine either," Helen commented.

"No _my_ father. I say he's out there right now hunting for me," Anna told them, her nose slightly raised.

Though they had made it obvious to Anna that they no longer wished to hear of her family or their five homes she put in a little jab once in a while, whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Like now.

"I'm sure he is, Anna," Wendy commented dryly, turning her attention back the roasting meat.

"How did you learn to hunt, Wendy?" Joanna asked her, munching on the bread herself.

Wendy smiled for a moment. "Peter taught me."

Helen's eyes went wide and Rosalind smiled prettily.

"Is he really your sweetheart?" Joanna asked and the girls giggled except for Anna, of course who scowled at them.

"He's not a sweetheart!" Wendy told the, flushed red herself.

"He's a sweetheart if you've kissed him," Helen told her, giggling a bit.

"I bet you he's the one who out there trying to find you!" Rosalind sighed. "It's all very romantic, reminds me of those Jane Austen novels!"

"You are not allowed to read those novels!" Anna snapped at her.

"My older cousin had a copy of one and went I stayed in their Paris home one summer we read bits of it together!" 

The girls squealed.

"I shall never read one, they're vulgar!" Anna told them, nose still in the air.

"I think it's simply dashing!" Helen turned to Wendy. "Tell us more of Peter, Wendy!"

Rosalind nodded next to her with enthusiasm.

Wendy looked down, her cheeks still flushed. "I... I don't know what to say on him."

"You certainly had a lot to say of him the other day," Joanna told her, a slight twinkle of delight in her eye.

"Y-yes, I suppose I did."

"What others things you did together... beside kissing him?" Helen smiled.

"We... we did so much together. We were always together." her voice was sad, melancholic.

"Were?" Anna observed. "How interesting that _suddenly_ you're no longer a couple."

"Not suddenly," Wendy snapped, looking darling over at Anna. "He... h-he to go away."

"Away where, Wendy?" Rosalind asked, the mirth in her eyes fading.

Wendy took a deep breath and reached within her coat, pulling on her chain. "He gave me this."

The girls leaned forward as Wendy showed them the small battered acorn.

"He gave you an _acorn_?" Anna asked, an amused smile on her face.

Wendy pulled the acorn to her. Her only piece of Peter left aside from her very vivid memories. "He called it a _kiss_." She looked down at it and fingered the small hole. "His _kiss_ saved me... just as my kissed saved him back."

"How did it save you?" Helen asked, she looked to be at the edge of her seat, waiting for more of the story.

"Well," Wendy took a deep breath. "After he gave it to me, I was shot with an arrow--" The girls gasped. "And here," she showed them the small hole. "His kiss prevented me from being hurt."

Anna rolled her eyes. "You were shot at?"

"Yes... by my... brothers...." she was highly aware how silly it all sounded and how difficult to believe it must be for them all and that this conversation might as well have unraveled what they accomplished these past few days but she was never one to lie. Peter had taught her that much.

Rosalind looked down. "It was a lovely story, nonetheless."

Wendy sighed. "Yeah... it was."

"Perhaps one day you should write it down! Become a world famous novelist like Jane Austen!" Joanna suggested, giving her a comforting smile.

"Oh, she would never write anything as bold!" Helen flushed. "Would you, Wendy?"

Wendy smiled back. "I suppose I could... maybe not as poignant as Jane Austen but I would enjoy writing very much."

"You shall never marry with that career." Anna commented, now biting on the freshly served meat.

Wendy was thoughtful for a moment. "My old stiff Aunt says the same thing."

The girls burst out laughing.

"Regardless, I shall love a sweetheart!" Rosalind cried above the noise.

"Of course you would!" Joanna laughed at her. "I think we all would."

"I'm glad to know I'm the only one who has a _real_ sweetheart." Anna snipped.

"So am I, Anna," Wendy told her and once more the girls laughed while Anna fumed at them.

---------------------------------------------

Many would say he was a cruel man from a cruel race but he would say he was an envisionist. He saw what the world could be, the potential of the people in it and the necessary steps he must take in order to see it become that.

So when his afternoon tea was interrupted by a messenger he envisioned the boy dead.

"What catastrophe has made you take the required steps to loose your life, soldier?" he asked, his voice ice as his eyes narrowed.

If the young boy could he would be prostrated on the floor, begging for his life... since he couldn't do that he settled for bowing as low as he could.

"Pardon my intrusion, General but I have an urgent message from General Dushkanov," the boy said, his eyes still fixed on the floor.

The general sighed and took another sip of his tea. "Well say it, for goodness sakes!"

"Y-yes, of course," the boy stammered. "The General wishes to inform you that they have just received words that a few young ladies from the finishing school we attacked escaped and are heading north west towards the coast--"

"On foot?" The general asked, amused.

"Y-yes, sir."

Dosmasky chuckled. "He tough this urgent? This is a joke! We're at war and we're worried about small girls who will die in a few nights from the cold?"

"General... one of the girls is the daughter of Prince Pavlovia... and the other is.... well the other is Duke Waterford's only child."

Dosmasky stood abruptly at that message, knocking over his tea.

"Send out a search party, send the best. I want to child of Waterford here, alive and unharmed.... kill the others." he said. "Am I clear?"

The soldier hid his grief but nodded, saluted and did what was commanded.

---------------------------------------------

TBC.....

A/N: (I know you're probably getting impatient for Peter and Wendy to reunite, trust me it's going to come when you least expect it. And you don't need to worry about... other interests getting in the way, rest assured that this is a Peter/Wendy fiction. Many of you have asked me what is Wendy and Peter's exact age. Wendy is 14 in this fiction, the way I placed it was that she turned 13 in Neverland and since it's been over a year since then she's well in 14 now. Peter, I think, is a few years older than Wendy so I'm placing him around 15 or 16 years of age.)


	6. Fears of A Normal Boy

**Fears of A Normal Boy** (part 6 of 'My Brave Wendy') 

by Isabelle 

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me; this is just done for entertainment. Chapter Disclaimers: 

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references) 

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you. 

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan"; it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did. 

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her. 

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!! 

Appreciation: Special thanks to Rogue, who is my dedicated beta—thank you, girl! I also want to thank all of you Fanfiction.net reviewers who send me such lovely words of encouragement! I really appreciate it :)

-------------------------------------

It would've been a lie to say that the past three days had been not been close to heaven... because they were. As close as Peter had ever felt. There was a tranquility to the Van Hursts, despite their petty arguments and their talk of nonsense. The played games with each other which Peter found to enjoy immensely and he realized that the more he enjoyed being with them and being accepted into the family the farther and farther away he felt Neverland was.

The reality of a 'star' was understood to him, a place so far away no one will ever visit but himself. 

He especially enjoyed listening to Mr. Van Hurst who was determined to teach Peter many things, a surprise to himself Peter found himself curious of all he didn't know or understand. True that his stay had only been of four days but when he would turn around to see the past there was nothing there. 

Aside from hunting for Tinkerbell (which had presumably gone missing) Peter didn't have many other thoughts of Neverland. As if Neverland had been a dream, a lovely dream which he wished to always remember.

Mr. Van Hurst showed Peter his small library and when Peter asked what was in all the book the man answered "Well stories, Peter. Adventures, poetry, drama, horror, all times of great thing... and of course romance for Marie who insists on having it in the house."

"What is romance?" Peter had asked, and was impart grateful that the Van Hursts had accepted his lack of knowledge as an opportunity to shed on his their own wisdom, they found it fascinating that someone his age should be so naive.

"Romance?" Mr. Van Hurst has laughed. "It's what makes this world go mad. Nothing clean can come out of love, my lad."

"Love?" the world felt familiar in Peter's tongue, like he had tasted it before.

"Ah, yes... love. A powerful thing it is," the man nodded, smoking his pipe.

"How do you love?" Peter had asked, touching the books.

"Well, that is an excellent question, Peter! Excellent indeed!" the man had sat down and looked out of the library window. "Love is... there is different types of love, Peter."

"How many?" Peter asked, curiosity getting hold of him.

"Plenty and more... if you ask me." Mr. Van Hurst replied. "There's the parent's love towards a child, a child's love towards their parents, family love... friendship love, and then of course there's the love who started it all. Love towards a .... a... well, a woman, Peter."

"A woman?" Peter asked, taken back and alarmed.

"Yes, like Mrs. Van Hurst and I. We're in love.... most of the time, me thinks." he chuckled. "And one day you'll find a special young lady to love and then you'll marry and have loads of happy fat children!"

"Marry? Children?" Peter was pale and alarmed. Suddenly his entire future had been decided for him and he had only asked about 'love'. He had decided that he didn't like 'love' at all. He would stay as far from it as possible.

"Yes, yes..." the man nodded. "Wonderful thing it is, lad. Quite lovely, it's how the human race stays on earth. Without love, there is no life."

"No life?!" Peter stood, and started pacing. Love was bad but he knew that life was good, then how can something so awful bring something so good.

"You're still pretty young, I'd say, fifteen are you now?" the man asked him, blowing out his smoke.

"I-I don't remember." Peter told him quietly, looking out of the window himself.

"Shame that is, we'll land you fifteen and be done with it, what do you think?"

Peter watched the Van Hursts dog chase birds is happy glee and sorrow took over his heart at that moment. Life suddenly seemed... to end. He could already see the end.

"Mr. Van Hurst... I don't think I love at all," Peter told him, turning to look at the man.

"Nonsense, lad!" the man cried out, in almost indignation. "What of that _ Wendy_? If you didn't love the sound such name I shall call you a liar! For I heard it with my own ears!"

Peter's ears turned bright red at the mention of Wendy. "Wendy?" he looked down at the ground for a moment. "She once talked of love."

"I best hope you humored her talks," the man smiled.

"I told her... I told her that it offended me," Peter said quietly. "I think I hurt her that night."

"I should say you did, women are delicate creatures with unpredictable moods, one moment they're smiling and laughing gaily, the next they're a mess of tears and sentiments," Mr. Van Hurst laughed.

"Why are they so... different from boy... I mean, _men_."

"God created them that way because they are the soul of the man," Van Hurst nodded.

"The soul?"

"The emotions, the feeling; all of which are often much more stronger than men's strength, wiser than men's minds and in most likelihood the superior of the species though we delight ourselves with thinking otherwise," more laughing from him.

"Is that what Mrs. Van Hurst is to you? Is she your soul?" Peter asked, curiously.

Mr. Van Hurst got a distant content look on his face and nodded. "Aye, lad. She most definitely is."

"And it... makes you happy?" Peter came closer, his brows knitted.

"Yes, Peter. She makes me happy."

A sudden grin broken over Peter's features and he let out a shout of joy that almost gave Mr. Van Hurst heart failure.

"Peter, good gracious! What is it?"

"I have to find her, Mr. Van Hurst, I have to tell her!"

"Tell who, what is happening?" the man cried, startled.

"Wendy! I have to tell Wendy!" Peter shouted, his features still shinning.

Mrs. Van Hurst came in, breathing heavily and pale. "Daniel, good heavens what is happening?!"

Mr. Van Hurst was laughing as Peter was nearly dancing with joy. "He's in love, Marie! The boy is in love!"

---------------------------------------------

When Wendy opened her eyes and looked down she saw herself standing on a beautiful flower-bathed canoe as fairies glided it over the crystal clear river bank.

The night was clear and filled with stars, shinning down on her and her beautiful white dress. Her dress flowed, and filled the entire bottom of the canoe, sparkling in the night with magical crystals. Her shoulders were nearly bare and she was delighted to discover that her body was no longer that of a growing young woman, but it had reached full womanhood. Her breast rode from her chest, showing just enough to give a bit of a tease. The sleeves flowed down to her calves, also sparkling and almost singing against the wind and though she could not confirm it she knew she was back in Neverland.

Her hair was longer and loose around her shoulders and down to her lower back. Two child-fairies flew to her face and gentle placed a garland of dailies on her head, giggling when she smiled at them.

"Thank you," she told them and was also not surprised to find her voice soft and almost sensual, the voice of a woman.

The fairies continued to glide the canoe down the river banks and she watched as midnight-butterflies danced close to her, making love to the wind.

Amongst glassy waters and trees so green the fairies stopped her boat, by the shores and placed a magical path for her to touch the fragrant grass without getting wet.

Her dress flowed around her as she followed the fairies into the trees and the flower gardens. They showed her Blue Roses that grew only there and no where else, that one smell of them and you'd sleep for a thousand years. They showed her the singing orchids which whistled when you sang to them, a soft lovely symphony which made Wendy want to dance, there, without a partner without violins.

But the fairies hurried her out of the exotic gardens and into a clearing were the moon bathed the grass.

"I've been here before," she whispered.

"Yes, always in your dream," a voice said behind her. 

Without her turning she knew it was him and a smile spread over her features.

"Peter," she whispered, closing her eyes.

She felt him walking, walking closer to her, until she felt him standing before her, starring at her.

She slowly opened her eyes and there he was. Dressed in dark green, hair as gold as ever, eyes as blue as they sky ... but no longer a boy.

"Peter, you've grown up," she told him, but she was not surprised, almost as this was the way it was meant to be.

He smiled at her and reached out to touched her flowing hair. 

"So have you," he said, their voices their whispers in the winds.

Looking up to him she reached out to touch his face, small stubbles of what was a semi-groomed beard prickled her flesh.

"Are you not sad, Peter?" she asked, confused, her brows furrowing.

He continued to smile at her, leaning into her touch, spreading his warm into her flesh.

"No. Not when you're with me."

Her smile must've brightened his day because she shined back at her, his eyes twinkling in the pale night.

"Dance with me, Wendy."

She laughed and looked around. "But there's no music."

He went ahead and took her smaller hand in his, bringing it to his chest, securing it there with his.

"Dance," he brought his other hand to her waist and pulled her close to him, pressing their bodies together in a way that made her flush though she was lost as she looked up to his eyes. "... and the music will come."

She brought her other hand to his shoulder, which was broader than she remembered feeling so she sunk into his embrace because at that moment she had all she needed. 

He was right, the moment their feet started moving it seemed like the forest sang with love, a melody so sweet and pure begin to make way for their midnight waltz.

His eyes bore into her, never looking away, never afraid. His breath tickled against the skin of her cheeks and she wished she could be bathed in it forever. He felt so very warm, so warm that it burnt her skin until the pain became pleasure.

He continued to lead her in their dance until he stopped and looked to the moon.

"Soon, you'll have to leave," he told her.

She shook her head, pressing herself closer to him. "No, Peter! I don't ever want to leave!" She rested her hand against his shoulder and his arms wrapped themselves around her, pulling her against him. "I want to stay here... I love it here, Peter."

She could feel his lips resting on the top of her head and it sent shivers throughout her body, giving her small spasms of delight.

"I love you, Wendy."

She pulled back to look at him and gasped.

It was no longer Peter but a man, dressed in a black suit; his hair dark brown and combed back in the latest fashion, a thin mustache adorned his upper lip and though Wendy would admit that he was in deed very handsome... he wasn't Peter. The man's brown eyes twinkled down to her.

"Who are you?" she asked, pulling herself from his embrace.

He moved forward. "Don't you know me, my darling?"

Wendy looked around wildly. "Where's Peter?"

"Who?" the man looked at her confused.

"Peter!!" she cried out into the forest.

"Wendy! Have you gone mad?" he asked, holding on to her bare arm.

"Where did he go? Tell me!" tears were now running down her cheeks.

The man chuckled. "Wendy, really! There is no Peter!"

"Yes there is!" she shouted.

He let go of her arm. "No there isn't," he said calmly. "And until you cannot understand that we cannot get married."

Her eyes went wide. "Married?" Breath was a luxury to her at the moment. "How can I marry you? I don't know you!"

"How can you say that?" he shouted at her. "We've known each other since I found you, alone after the attack at the school!"

"But..." her eyes were fearful. "...that just happened..."

"It's been seven years, my love... there is no Peter, never was and never will be, Wendy." he took her shaking hand and placed it against his chest like Peter had done not minutes ago. "It's always been me, darling." His soft brown eyes pleaded with her. "Don't you remember, I'm your Christian..."

"... Christian?" she asked, herself confused and lost... so very lost in those eyes. "You saved me?"

He gave her a gentle smile and reached out to touch her face. "Yes, my love. Your Christian saved you."

"_My_ Christian?" 

"That's what you always called me," he told her, gently.

She started shaking her head. "But... but what of Peter? What became of him?"

"Do you mean the old man Peter?" he asked, confused himself.

"No! He's not a man, he's a boy... a young man!" she cried, her eyes still searching the forest.

"Wendy! He died, he became old in your arms and died."

Her body froze with shock but before she could prevent herself she looked down to her arms and there he was... Peter in her arms, smiling up at her as his head now rested on her lap.

Her heart leapt to her throat.

"Peter!"

But his smile was somewhat sad. 

"Peter... I'm sorry I have to go but my heart... my heart belongs to you and always will."

Tears were falling down her cheek and into his quickly ageing face. "Why must you leave? Peter, why?"

His body was ageing fast than what she could understand or comprehend.

He was still smiling up at her. "Wendy? You ... you wont forget me, will you? When you're old and by your window and telling stories to your grandchildren... you wont forget me then will you?"

Wendy took a gasping sob. "No! How could I?"

His once bright eyes slowly closed, smile still on his face in the purest childish delights. 

"I'll live, my love. I'll live forever... in your stories..."

And then he was gone, his body ashes on her hands. She let out a strangled cry.

"Peter! Peter, don't leave me!"

Before she knew it. She awoke. Sweating and shivering. But she awoke.

When the night came once more and it was time for them to travel once more.. she knew, she knew she must forget the boy once called Peter Pan.

---------------------------------

TBC....

(A/N: god, that dream was fu*king emotional to write. I cried myself, with the soundtrack in the background and all didn't help ;) I hope you liked it. I wasn't going to make this a chapter by itself ... but the dream got complicated)


	7. The Hunt

**The Hunt** (part 7 of 'My Brave Wendy') 

by Isabelle 

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me; this is just done for entertainment. Chapter Disclaimers: Lyrics used in this chapter are "Dante's Prayer" by Loreena McKennitt

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references) 

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you. 

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan"; it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did. 

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her. 

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!! 

Appreciation: My beta, who rocks my world at this moment, Rogue!!

------------------------------

_I did not believe because I could not see   
Though you came to me in the night   
When the dawn seemed forever lost   
You showed me your love in the light of the stars_

"So that makes everything, no?"

Peter looked up at the horse then down at his saddle that was filled to the brim. 

"It does," Peter replied.

Mr. Van Hurst cleared his throat and smiled at the young man.

"I've never had such kindness from strangers before," Peter told him, looking up to the man who was just slightly taller than him--just slightly.

Mr. Van Hurst, as jovial as ever, simply continued smiling and extended hi hand out to him. "You have family here now, young Pan, make sure you cultivate it... bring your Wendy along once you've found her."

Peter's ears perked up and a smile crossed his features. "Can I? She's love it here and you'd love her too!"

Mr. Van Hurst chuckled and grasped Peter's hand, tightly in his own. "Do send us word when you've found her, I know Marie will simply be distraught if we never hear from you again."

Peter nodded, looking curiously at their clasped hands. "You will... you will hear from me once more. I promise and I'm not forgetting."

"This from the young man who forgot he ate breakfast this morning?"

Peter laughed at this yet internally he was swearing on both life and death he would never forget the kindness of these strangers.

"I will see you again, Mr. Van Hurst."

"Daniel, Peter. I've told you over and over to call me Daniel."

Peter smiled, almost shyly. "Daniel."

"That's right, lad. And you know in case this entire situation with Wendy doesn't work out I'm sure my own Julianne would love to ... see you back," Mr. Van Hurst chuckled in an almost wistful manner. The truth was that he indeed had hoped that his own fair daughter, which all the young men in town seemed to be highly interested in, would win Peter's heart. 

As Marie had explained. One cannot win what is not for the giving. He had agreed. He didn't want his angel to be second choice to any man.

...unless Peter wanted to return for her. 

Peter frowned at his words and turned to looks at the lovely and always gentle Julianne. Her shoulders were sagged as she stood by the garden gate, dressed in the palest pink, her eyes sad and watery as she looked on to Peter.

Peter swallowed, being around her had become more and more uncomfortable, she would smile at him the same way Wendy had smiled at him and that would only get him started talking of Wendy; something he had learned from the rather nasty incident that Julianne didn't appreciate.

_"You know what is the first thing I'll do when I see her?" Peter asked her._

_Julianne's smile faded as Wendy was once more brought to the subject. She turned from Peter, her white dress hitting his ankles as she walked away._

_"I'll kiss her! A real kiss! Like she gave to me--"_

_"Peter!" she had cried. "This is really not a proper topic of conversation!" her face was flushed when Per had turned to look on to her._

_"Why not?" Peter asked, confused. "Wendy always wanted to kiss me... since the moment we first started talking!"_

_If it was possible he watched her face turn redder. "Well I think she's just horrible!"_

_She stormed off towards the house, it took Peter a moment to realize the girl was upset with him and he quickly took after her. He grabbed her elbow, stopping her and turning her to face him._

_"Are you angry at me, Julianne?" he asked, almost scared._

_She sniffled a bit and then Peter was shocked to see the tear tracks on her face. She was crying! Girls were so peculiar._

_"No, Peter... I'm angry at myself, that's all." she told him, her voice nearly a whisper._

_"And this anger... it makes you cry?" he peered at her, her eyes were red and her bottom lip was trembling._

_"It makes..." she fell silent for a moment and Peter accepted that she was trying to gain her wording. "How can you be so cruel?"_

_The words stunned him but even more were her eyes, once soft and gentle were now filled with rage. _

_"You know how I feel about you and yet you continue to speak of her. Everything is her. Well, I hate her!" she exploded, her head shook so much that strands from her usually perfect hair were coming out in wisps over her eyes._

_"Feel?" Peter asked confused, bewildered and above all scared. "You have feelings? ... for me?"_

_She let out an un-humorous laugh. "Yes, Peter! Since the moment we found you... I knew. I knew you were special."_

_"I'm Peter Pan," he told her matter-of-factly._

_"No! I knew you were special... to me. Like you fell from the sky only feet away from me. Like God sent you to me, Peter." she told him quietly._

_"No, Julianne!" Peter told her, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her harder than he had intended to._

_"He does, Peter! You must love me, I know you do!" she cried, more tears running down her cheeks. "You look at me in a way... you melt me inside and I'm left with nothing, Peter!"_

_"I do not mean to!" Peter shouted back at her, his heart thumping in his chest. _

_"But you do! If this is the way you looked at Wendy then no wonder she loved you!" she sobbed. "How can we not love you Peter? Tell me?"_

_She buried her face in her hands, her small shoulders shaking with the grief of first love but Peter dared not touch her. If she had been Wendy he would've placed his arms around her... but with Julianne? He dared not touch her._

_"I'm sorry, Julianne. I'm sorry I make you cry and I make you hurt," his voice was painfully hoarse. Even he knew, in his own simplicity of mind that boys were not to make girls cry._

_She slowly lifted her head and looked at him with all the misery in the world swimming in her light brown eyes. "Why wont you let yourself love me, Peter?"_

_His jaw clenched slightly then he placed one hand on either of her shoulders and peered into her. He hoped he would let her see, he hoped she would understand._

_"I love her, Julianne. I love Wendy... since the first moment I saw her sleeping, since before I had ever seen her eyes. I ... I loved her."_

_And so Julianne had nodded, turned, and went into the house._

Peter took a deep breath and walked towards the girl, she shifted in her spot as he came nearer. He looked at her for a moment for he took a bow.

Always the gentleman.

"Goodbye, Julianne," he told her softly, his eyes sad. Sadness for her own misery. 

She blinked back tears and smiled back at him. "Oh, Peter...." she took a deep breath. "Do find happiness... happiness with her, because I think people spend too much time centering their lives around what is in their hears; what makes them happy that they wont realize they pushed those that would mean the most out of their lives."

Peter listened to her words and nodded.

"I will, Julianne... even if I have to become a man. I will."

He said his goodbyes to Mrs. Van Hurst who sobbed and almost fainted as they watched him take off. He had yet to find Tinkerbell, yet he knew she must be there somewhere and would follow his scent when she felt like showing up. He had a feeling she had not liked him staying with the Van Hurst as long as he did.

As for he, himself. He wouldn't have changed the experience for the world.

When the night came and the wind began howling he gave his strong horse to a poor farmer and leapt out of the ground, thoughts of his love for Wendy dancing in his head. 

When the alps were only a few miles away he saw many soldiers on horseback, apparently searching for something. He flew down, hiding ion the shadows of the night like he'd done so many times and listened to what they said.

"The girls shouldn't be too far from here!" one of them cried, and Peter's stomach dropped.

"You! Take five men and search the east side, hurry! There's a storm coming. A nasty one!"

Peter took off in the direction the soldiers were dispatched to, flying against time and above the cloud, searching for his Wendy.

Soon. Soon he'd find her.

----------------------------------------

_Cast your eyes on the ocean   
Cast your soul to the sea   
When the dark night seems endless   
Please remember me _

The night had just set when the girls once more bundled up, wrapping themselves with all they had and braced themselves for the coming night. They needed to find better shelter, they needed to lay low until the snow cleared enough for Wendy to hunt once more.

The deer Wendy had hunted was small and the meat was almost gone no matter how much they rationed it. Joanna had told them that they needed to eat a lot that night so they would have energy for the coming climb. 

There was sadness in Wendy, Joanna could tell. Ever since that night she had woken up screaming Peter's name.. her soul seemed to be damaged somehow and Wendy was no longer the peppy girl Joanna had seen when help was needed.

She had asked her, if anything was the matter-- at first Wendy has passed it off as a night mare... the next time she had told her it was just she, as a woman, letting go of a childhood dream.

The words had seemed so heartbreaking to Joanna she had nearly cried for her, as if it had taken Wendy's lasting breath of life to admit that.

"Let's leave now," Joanna told the group, watching as they hefted the heavy bag on their frail shoulders. It had been now almost a week since they had started their journey and it was becoming more and more dangerous to cross streets, they got many stares even by the locals... word seemed to have gotten out that five girls were wanted by the army.

For that reason they had stopped entering barns during the day, it was too dangerous--they had to go to abandoned wrecks, caves or simply find warm pasture which was becoming harder and harder to find as they moved upwards to the top of the mountain. The snow was coming down earlier in the day.

"But it's starting to snow already!" Rosalind had cried, her eyes weary of the flakes coming from heaven.

"Good, they'll be less people about," Wendy answered her.

Rosalind pouted but Helen reached out and grabbed her hand. "We'll help each other... wont we, Wendy?"

Wendy turned to look up at the mountain before them. "We will."

The climb upward went easier than Wendy had expected, the rocks were not so slippery and the snow was not deep, the elevation had popped her ears so she kept chewing on a piece of wax, telling the girls about the trick. Soon they were a bit more cheerful, despite the cold night air and the more rapidly coming snow. 

"Just above this cliff there should be caves," Joanna shouted to them, they nodded following her lead.

"What happens after we climb this mountain?" Anna asked, she had seldom talked glaring at the girls; when she spoke it had been to complain or to snap at Wendy. Her hatred was beginning to reach it's peak, Wendy could see it in the girls' eyes.

"Then we'll be able to see what is behind it," Wendy answered simply. "Until then... we climb this mountain."

Anna glared at her but followed suit.

It was not until the snow was past their ankles that Joanna stopped. "We need to find--"

There was a loud scream.

Helen screamed. She was looking behind them, and they all quickly turned to see what it was about.

Almost at their heels were five soldiers on horse and leading some ferocious looking dogs that began barking when Helen screamed.

"There they are! We've found them captain!" one soldier shouted.

Wendy's heart leapt to her throat, adrenaline pumping into her veins. "Split up! Joanna, take Rosalind and run west! Helen, Anna, come this way!"

Without questioning her they nodded and started running as best as their feet could in the snow and against the rocky plain. Wendy took them through some rocky points, willing them to find shelter there but soon they heard the dogs barking and soldiers running, shouting.

"They're running scared, the brats!" they shouted.

Wendy looked on wildly. 

"There's a small farm there!" Helen cried and started for it.

"No!" Wendy told her, and held her back. "They'll expect us to go there!"

Helen nodded, her teeth clattering against the cold air. 

"Here, a small cave," Wendy pointed at the small opening in the ground less than three feet wide. "Get in there, don't move until I come to find you." She told them. 

"What about you?" Anna asked, her own eyes wide and frightful.

"I'll be a diversion," she explained. "Pet-- I learned it a long time ago--" She pushed Helen into the opening. "Don't leave until I come or Joanna and Rosalind!"

Anna and Helen squeezed themselves into the small cave as Wendy covered it with snow to prevent them from being seen. When she was sure they were safe she turned to look at the farm, fear was swimming in her stomach but she grabbed on to her backbone and made a run for it.

--------------------------------

_Then the mountain rose before me   
By the deep well of desire   
From the fountain of forgiveness   
Beyond the ice and fire _

The Darling household was quiet that night, though there was tension hanging in shreds over them all. The entire neighborhood knew of Wendy's disappearance and Mrs. Darling was truly tired of their meaningless sympathies and their curses towards foreigners. She had yet to receive a full night's rest, the wind seemed to cry out Wendy's name in the night and it tapped at their bedroom window.

Many times had she ran up from bed to open the window only to have chilled air hit her face and chest. But there was no Wendy there. None.

It was on the night where she had gotten to finally rest some that her dreams came to her. In her dreams there was so much fighting, blood, and screams. Screams of someone too familiar.

"Wendy!"

George sat up next to her, his hair all on it's ends and his eyes wide and frightful.

"Mary?" he asked her, turning to her. "Mary, what is it?"

But Mrs. Darling simply sobbed. "She's hurting, George, she's hurting!"

He did hold her against him, trying his best to comfort her... but there was no console when his own heart was breaking.

--------------------------------

_Though we share this humble path, alone   
How fragile is the heart   
Oh give these clay feet wings to fly   
To touch the face of the stars_

"There she is!"

She continued to run.

"Risco, fetch the lass!" 

It was almost there, she was almost there. She slipped against the snow floor, banging her knee with a thud and she let out a scream of a pain. Looking behind her she saw the large soldier jogging up to her and it quickly made her stand and run the last few feet to the barn door.

She shut the door behind her, quickly grabbing a broom stick and looping it through the handles. It wouldn't keep him out but it would give her a few seconds to formulize a plan.

She looked around and groaned when she realized it was simply a hay storage. No horse or tools... she needed something sharp or something heavy. Something heavy....

Wendy searched wildly especially when the door began to pound, and the man started screaming at her.

"Brat bitch, I'll teach you!"

Her hands were sweaty though her body was frozen with fear. She could hide in the hay... but that would simply buy her a few minutes before they would capture her.

Frantically she realized there was nothing there, nothing at all to defend herself with. Horror settled over her but she still pulled her bag from her shoulders, searching for the large knife she carried... she'd have to get close to the man but it was her only defense.

The blade was behind her, her shoulders were square and in her eyes danced defiance.

The door was thrown opened, splitting the broomstick in half and in walked the man.

The soldier was about six feet tall, dark and looming. An ugly smile on his lips as she breathed in harshly. 

"That was more work than I ever thought to spend on you, sweetheart." he told her, massaging his red knuckles were he'd obviously banged on the door with.

"I'm more trouble than what is worth," she told him, her voice steady. "If I were you I would walk away... and never look back."

The soldier chuckled. "I hate children."

"I'm no child."

"If I were you, I'd be a child," her voice was so cold that it made Wendy's flesh prickle. "Don't you know what happens to lost young ladies when they're found by soldiers?"

He started walking towards her, her hands started to shake and the need to run out the door was clawing at her throat.

"Yeah... you know you do... especially when they're as pretty as you..."

"They die."

Before Wendy could run, scream or be stunned a voice said those words and the soldier looked down to his chest. 

A large sword's tip was coming out of his chest. Wendy's blade had not moved from behind her so she stared at the protruding blade in shock.

A moment later the man fell forward, missing Wendy's body by a few inches, his body unmoving with a large sword rammed through his back.

She looked at the body, shaken and dropped her own knife from behind her, looking up.

A man... a man floated a few inches from the ground, hidden in the shadows of the barn. Slowly he floated to her, letting his face be lit by the moonlight.

Wendy was sure that nothing else that happened in this life would shock her. She was wrong.

"Peter? Peter Pan?"

_Though we share this humble path, alone   
How fragile is the heart   
Oh give these clay feet wings to fly   
To touch the face of the stars_

_Breathe life into this feeble heart   
Lift this mortal veil of fear   
Take these crumbled hopes, etched with tears   
We'll rise above these earthly cares _

-----------------------------------------------------

TBC....

A/N: As you wish it.


	8. Even if I were Sand

**Even if I Where Sand **(part 8 of 'My Brave Wendy') 

by Isabelle 

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me; this is just done for entertainment. Chapter Disclaimers: 

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references) 

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you. 

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan"; it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did. 

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her. 

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!! 

Appreciation: My beta, who rocks my world at this moment, Rogue!! 

------------------------------------

She sat there paralyzed her eyes still unbelieving, her heart running a race against herself... her mind couldn't grasp it. The shock of a man being killed inches from her, her running, the entire week seemed to catch up on her so much and now Peter Pan was standing before her, with a look of concern on his face. This was it, she had lost her mind entirely.

So she promptly fainted, falling unceremoniously on top of the thick hay.

Peter did try to move when he saw her fainting but the entire shock of seeing her there, her cheeks flushed, her eyes wide, and even more beautiful than he remembered her being prevented him from moving in time.

He did run to her, pulling her up from the hay.

She was trembling slightly so pulled his bag from his shoulders and took out a thick blanket, wrapping her thin shoulders with it and rubbing his palms over her upper shoulder to warm her.

"Wendy," he whispered, looking at her angelic face. She truly was an angel, her skin the palest pink that not even the snow could take away, her auburn hair rolled well past her waist and cascaded into his hands letting him bathe in it's softness.

Yes, she was something beyond human to him. A goddess.

He placed his dirty hand on her lips.

A thimble.

His thimble.

Her lips moved slightly at the touch and he couldn't help tilting his head slightly.... they looked so inviting, so ready to be... thimble.

Peter was really not thinking, it was as if her lips were humming a soft hypnotic tune that entranced him and lured him to her. Without a second thought he brought down his lips to his Sleeping Beauty; if it had worked for the prince in that story why shouldn't it work for him?

So close... until he touched them.

It really was a feeling of pure ecstasy, the skin of her lips was warm and plump, filled with promises of life and adventure. 

Yes, this by far was his greatest adventure of them all.

He didn't know how long he spent attached to her in the intimate manner but soon her lips parted and she gasped. He pulled back, just slightly to look down at her wide eyes.

She blinked, still confused, her eyes still foggy.

"Hello Wendy," he greeted softly, with a small smile on his lips.

She studied him for a moment before blinking once more and then a smiling slowly.

"This is by far my best dream, Peter," she told him, though there was such deep sadness in her voice it hurt him to hear.

His eyes turned sad. Had she forgotten all about him? Was he just a dream to her?

"It's no dream, Wendy. I've been looking for you... I've come to rescue you."

At this she sat up, all too soon making their foreheads collapse.

The pain surely reassured her his was real because she jumped back, holding her forehead and looking at him wide-eyed.

"Peter!"

He grimaced, rubbing his own forehead. "Yes, Wendy."

"You...." she looked at him, body and all almost wildly. "... you are in... men's clothing...."

Peter looked down at himself and shrugged almost apologetically. "One can't really travel the snow on leaves can I?"

"The snow?" she asked, still confused, still a bit cynical.

A smile came to his face. "Yes! Your mother thought it best to dress me in this, I brought some clothes for you too--"

"My mother?" she asked, bewildered.

"Yes, your mother. Lovely lady she is," he was so sincere Wendy had to stop and simply look at him.

"You came... you've come for me?" her voice was a mere kiss of a whisper.

The smile had faded from his lips and he was simply looking at her in that way... that way that had made her melt so many times like the last time she had seen him hovering over her window, memorizing what she looked like.

"Of course I did..." he told her, coming closer to her. The moon making his hair shine like spun gold.

Wendy looked on at him, studying what he had apparently become. "Why?"

The question was really simple, it was something she would've expected Peter to avoid to when he merely look at her, his eyes serious and sincere and told her he loved her she was sure to faint once more.

"I love you. Because I love you, Wendy."

"You..." the world seemed to be spinning out of it's axis and doing the waltz around the universe. She was sure this was all just a dream, a lovely dream filled with good things and bad things and things you simply hear in dreams.

".... I love you." he repeated once more, like a child who has no reservations.

Tears came to her eyes and they quickly starting marking their tracks on her glowing cheeks. She was filled with a warmth she couldn't describe despite the cold air coming in to the barn. The world could've exploded for all she cared but all she saw was him.

Kneeling there before her... telling her he loved her.

"Wendy?" his voice was worried. "Why are you crying?"

She stifled a sob but it proved to be impossible as she broke down in tears.

Peter was startled and knew not what to do, her face was buried in her hands and her hair made a curtain around her, shaking slightly with her shoulders.

He gently crawled to her until her body heat was radiation to him and gently wrapped his arms around her, bringing her head to his chest.

Wendy would've really wanted to fight, hit him and curse him and tell him how she hated him so many night... but she didn't. Because his chest felt incredibly amazing against her ear and his arms around her was a heaven she could've only dream about.

"Oh Peter..." she sagged against him.

His hand came up to cup her head and rock her back and forth. "Wendy, don't cry... I'll try not to make you cry, I promise."

She hiccupped and pulled back, just slightly, to look up at him.

A smile slowly formed itself on her lips as his eyes looked down on her with so much worry. "You look like my Peter... but you don't act like my Peter."

He smiled his own smile. "It's been a learning experience finding you."

She sagged against him, contently. "Really?"

He nodded. 

"How long have you been searching?"

He bit his lip. "Since... since the night we found out your school had been attacked."

She nodded, still smiling. "I knew it... I could feel you looking for me but I wouldn't let myself believe."

He gently sat her up, making sure she was steady and reached up to her face to clear the tear tracks. She held her breath, never tacking her own eyes from his and he softly cleaned her face.

"I don't ever want you to cry for me," Peter whispered, guilt evident in his voice.

"Then don't leave," she told him.

Their eyes gently danced with each other, without looking away, without reservations... simply open and simply understanding.

"I'm here now," he said.

She smiled and reached out her own hand to place it against his cheek, an action that before had almost sent him into hysterics about emotions and feelings.

But this time he let her rest her gloved hand against him, rubbing the skin lightly. "Yes... yes you are, Peter."

"WENDY!"

Peter and Wendy pulled back, shocked as voices come thumbing to them.

"Oh my god, Wendy!" she heard Rosalind cry.

"Stay away from her, you scum!" Joanna cried, pulling out her sword, though she knew not how to use it.

Peter quickly jumped up, standing between himself and Wendy, pulling out his own sword.

The girls screamed and flew behind Joanna.

"Wendy!" Helen cried.

"Stop it!" Wendy yelled at him, standing up and placing herself between the frightened girls and the overprotective Peter.

"Ladies, this is my friend Peter... I told you of him, remember?" a light blush crept to her cheeks. "Peter, these are my school friends. We've been traveling together."

Joanna slowly put down her own sword and starred at Peter along with the rest of the girls. As if they couldn't believe he was really.

Peter for his part promptly placed down his sword and picked up his bag. 

"He's... he's real..." Helen finally said.

Peter turned to her and frowned. "Of course, I'm real!"

His voice made them jump. "Oh my goodness..." Rosalind fainted behind Joanna.

"Girls faint so easily," Peter commented, earning him a glare from Wendy.

"Pick her up," Wendy told Anna. 

Anna, who for her part, was looking at Peter in a more than curious manner. It was true that he was dressed like a peasant but so was she.

"You pick her up," Anna retorted. "It was because of _your_ friend that she fainted."

Wendy narrowed her eyes and walked past her to the fallen Rosalind. 

"She's probably hungry, Wendy... we're starved." Helen commented, sitting down on the hay and looking about miserably.

"I've brought food," Peter told them and they all looked at him expectantly. 

He looked around the hay barn. "If we make a fire this will be a good shelter--"

Anna screamed to the top of her lungs, startling them all. Her thin white finger pointed at the soldier's dead body.

"Oh my god!" Helen cried, backing up herself.

"He's dead, it's all right," Peter tried to calm them, grimacing when Anna screamed once more.

"You killed him!" she accused him.

"I did, he was attacking Wendy," Peter told her.

"You... y-you monster!"

Peter blanched at her, his mouth hanging open.

"Stop it, you git!" Wendy cried at her, standing in front of her. "He saved my life... once more. The man was going to attack me."

Joanna nodded and helped Rosalind stand up. "We better get him out of here before he starts smelling."

Peter looked at Anna, appalled, then helped Joanna drag the body outside of the cabin and buried it in snow. When they came back outside Helen and Rosalind were bundled under a blanket and Wendy had started a small fire.

Peter handed her a piece of salted meat, tea bags and some potatoes.

"Potatoes!" Joanna cried, looking delighted. 

"I can make a stew, I think," Wendy said, pulling out a small pot they made Rosalind carry.

"You know how to make stew?" Peter asked, a slight smile on his face as he watched her work. She smiled back, shyly (in a way that made Anna roll her eyes). 

"Yes, Peter," Wendy blushed lightly as he watched her dice the potatoes with his knife.

"A potato and meat strew sounds lovely." Helen commented as she helped Joanna placed blankets on the cold floor.

"Once we're found again we wont have to eat things such as potato stew," Anna commented dryly, glared at the way Wendy and Peter sat so close to each other. "That is servant's food."

Peter turned to look at her. He was beginning to dislike her greatly. 

"What food do you know how to make," he asked her.

Wendy's head snapped to look at him. "Peter..." she warned.

Anna lifted her chin defiantly. "A true lady doesn't _cook_."

Peter smiled and looked at Wendy. "I beg to differ."

All the girls laughed except for Anna who alienated herself from them, though she took the stew a bit too eagerly once it was done.

----------------------------------------

He was very much annoyed when his meeting with the heads of state was interrupted by a supposed 'urgent message'. Dosmasky was not a patient man but he complied regardless and met with the massager in the adjoining room.

"What is it?" he marked at the soldier before him.

"We've just received a telegram, General," he handed him a piece of paper.

The general took it and nodded for him to leave. The soldier walked quickly out of the room but another man, dressed in a fine suit entered.

The door closed quietly behind him and he walked to the general who looked like he'd just been given poison to drink.

"Bad news, I take," the man in the suit said.

Dosmasky jumped when saw who it was but promptly bowed in reverence before the man.

"Excellency, forgive me I did not hear you enter," Dosmasky told him, a bit pale and nervous. 

Prince Adrien was not a man to be trifled with, Dosmasky knew that, he was after all the person who would basically inherit all the land once the war was done.

The Prince didn't flinch simply moved to take the telegram from him.

He opened it and read it's contents, then sighed and handed it back to the general.

"Five little girls..." he started slowly, walking to the desk that was in the dark room. "Five little girl, Dosmasky and you cannot capture them."

The general turned to look at him and gulped. "No... Excellency."

"Perhaps the American saying of doing things on your own is true." Adrien commented.

"I just need a few more days, my prince--"

He truly didn't get to finish his sentence as the Prince pulled out a small gun and shot him with it. The general looked up at him before his vision was clouded in blood and he fell to the floor. Dead.

Adrien slowly stood to look at the man. He really should know how to control his tempter. When the soldiers came to take the general's body away he asked one of them for a special task. A special person he must contact.

-----------------------------------------

Yes, he was an American in a European's world that was true. But he was no cowboy. If he wanted he could pass as English, Russian, German, French and even Italian; not many were able to pull that off.

He also didn't like to be bothered. It annoyed him to no end, especially when the card game was just getting interesting. He had three aces and a pair of deuces. A sure win, a sure five thousand pounds. 

He loved playing with aristocracy, they were as foolish with their money as with the words they told strangers in a poker table.

His youth was his advantage, they saw him young, which he was... just turned eighteen in fact but he was no boy. He hadn't been a boy for as long as he could remember. 

He took a drag from his fine cigar and smirked as the players showed their cards. 

"You show now, Mr. Kelley." they asked him. 

"Gentleman, first of all let me state that it's been a fine pleasure playing hands with you all." he told them, his English accent more perfect than ever.

The older men laughed. "He's a fine lad, he is!"

"Here, here!"

"Show us what you've got, Mr. Kelley."

He did, placed down his five cards and stunned them all. With a small smile he leaned forward and collected the chips, handing them to his man-servant next to him.

"By George!" one of the older men gasped.

"He's cleaned us dry!" another said and then they all began to laugh.

"We have to stop these little games, Mr. Kelley or you'll soon be owning our estates and marrying our daughters!" 

They all burst out laughing, that's why enjoying playing with them, they didn't mind to loose fortunes. Their fine card game was interrupted when a messenger came scurrying forward.

"For whom this time?" asked one of the men, taking a sip from his cherry.

"For Mr. Christian Kelley." the messenger said.

The young American cocked his eyebrow but took it regardless thanking the massager with a few coins.

"Mr. Kelley deems himself important now, gentlemen."

Christian ignored their jabs but studied the message. This assignment would certainly place him in the map of most sought out assassins. He smiled. His life was just about to begin.

-----------------------------------------------

TBC.....

A/N: Yes, Christian Kelley is the same guy Wendy sees in her dream, just in case you're wondering :) I'm sorry if you've asked me a question and I have not answered, to reply at ff.net is really inconvenient, you're welcomed to email me at isabelle@komodo-skin.com and ask me and I'll definitely answer you back :) 


	9. Over the Bonfire

**Over the Bonfire **(part 9 of 'My Brave Wendy') 

by Isabelle 

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me; this is just done for entertainment. Chapter Disclaimers: 

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references) 

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you. 

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan"; it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did. 

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her. 

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!! 

Appreciation: My beta, who rocks my world at this moment, Rogue!! 

------------------------------------ 

Nothing gold can stay. 

It is a universally known truth. 

Though the wind did diminish, the coldness that settled the group when they realized that Peter was not exactly a 'normal man' made winter in Switzerland seem like a summer day. 

It all happened the next morning, after they had rested in the hay barn, well fed on Wendy's stew, warm with the extra blankets Peter had brought and the small fire that was kept going through the night. The morning brought with her the sun, making some of the snow melt and the path much more easy to follow. 

When the girls had informed Peter that they had to start walking up a particular steep hill Peter's face brightened with an idea.

An idea Wendy had also considered but dismissed all too quickly, knowing full well the girls would not be able to handle it.

"Why don't we fly?" he had asked.

The girls at first though him to be humorous but when he leapt out into the air, his limbs all too accustomed to it, a bright smile on his face as he looked down at them, they screamed. They screamed and scattered about, begging for their lives.

Anna had pulled Joanna's sword from the girl's bag and brandished it at Peter. 

"Peter, no!" Wendy called out to him. "Get down! Please!"

He had seen the desperation in those blue eyes he loved so much so biting his lip he gentle floated down, his face slightly red with embarrassment.

"Please calm down girls, I can explain, really!" Wendy called to them.

It took some time to get them all to sit down, and over some stale crackers Wendy told them the story. Her story, the story of Peter, Neverland, Captain Hook, the Lost Boys... everything.

That was the beginning of their troubles.

At first Anna has proclaimed them all mad, overall Wendy, and Peter was deemed possessed by an evil spirit that needed to be exorcised the moment they found an Orthodox Church. Then she demanded hard fact. Where exactly was the supposed 'fairy' that provided the dust to make it possible for them to fly? To that Peter had no response, his face fell as he admitted that he had not been able to find her. Tink didn't like him standing about with girls. Even Wendy (to which Wendy grimaced and looked away).

Anna looked quite proud of herself, as if she'd figured something out. She also proceeded to let them all know that it was all a child's game and she was not mistaken when she told them all that they were no longer children.

To that; they had no reply. Not even Peter.

So they packed for a cold night, and started the steep climb up the mountain. 

Anna would never admit it but once they had walked for a few hours she desperately wished there was indeed a fairy with fairy dust that would make them leap over mountains.

-------------------------------------

Christian was loosing patience. He hated working with civilians whose heads were filled with milking cows and processing cheese. It was beyond annoyance; it was an insult to his intellectual ability.

"Have you see these girls," he would hold up the picture provided to him by the prince. It showed two lovely young girls, one with long shinny black hair and eyes as clear as the sea, the other had shorter blonde hair and darker eyes. He knew there were five to the group but he figured those would be enough to find them, especially if they were traveling like peasants. If there was something he knew of well-bred young ladies was that they stood out in a crow as being helpless and completely dependant on the male figure around them. They wouldn't be easy to miss.

The peasants would look at the picture like they'd never seen one and in most cases many of them had never. 

He'd wasted four days already. Four days and with each passing day the possibility that someone else might get the kill woke him from his short hours of sleep.

On the fifth day he got the scent of blood.

--------------------------------------

"We'll rest here for the night, the night is a bit warmer than the rest, we shouldn't need a cave... a good fire will do," Wendy told them, placing her own bag down.

"I'll take it," Peter grabbed the heavier bag, smiling at her as he did.

It happened once more, they got lost in each other's eyes as they often did during the day, grins that turned into wide smiles and made Anna cringe at the sappiness of it all.

"Thank you, Peter," Wendy told him, handing over the heavy bag.

"I'll start a fire so we can cook the deer."

Peter, while they took a small nap, had gone out and hunted a small but healthy deer that would serve them with enough food for a few days.

The girls, though at first apprehensive were now all smiles with him, praising his hunting skills. Peter was always an attention whore, he loved all the admiring looks he received from the girls and often wondered why he though he could spend the rest of his days around only boys.

Girls were much more prettier than boys and though they did complain a lot a smile and some praise from them made up for any faults they had.

Anna had also drastically changed her attitude towards Peter. Sure, she cringed when Wendy and him stared at each other in a moony-sort of way but her dislike was now geared towards Wendy... for Peter she now gave him as many smiles as the others did and in many cases compliments that would've been frowned upon in proper society. But they weren't in proper society. They were in the middle of nowhere.

While they walked in their hard and cold paths he would entertain them with stories of Neverland but always insisted that Wendy tell her own fairytales.

His new favorite was The Little Mermaid, it was a wonderfully tragic story... though the first time she told it to him he made her change the ending, insisting that Ariel would've taken the Prince and made him a merman so that they could live happily-ever after in the ocean with her.

"It doesn't end that way, Peter!" Wendy told him one night. 

"Why can't it, Wendy? Why can't she simply take him away from the horrible world and stay with her under the sea?" he insisted, his hands shaking and his eyes wide as he told her this.

"Because he'll never be part of her world... sometimes people just don't belong together..." a tear had escaped her right eye and it traveled quickly down to her neck.

He studied the tear and found out he loved the tear. She should cry if she would never come back with him... if she would leave him.

He had flown away then, upset and discomforted by her answers.

The next night she had changed the ending. Though her face was emotionless when she informed them that the Prince realized it was Ariel he loved and went into the sea with her, both gaining their fins.

She had retired to sleep that night early, Peter stayed up, telling the girls the story of him cutting off Hook's hand and throwing it to the crocodile. When all the girls were asleep Peter crept to Wendy's resting place.

Her left hand was tucked under her chin and her eyes were closed in that angelic way he loved. Her lips, full and pink as ever despite being in the cold for so many days, her lashes long and brushing against her cheeks.

He reached out to touch her but her eyes flew open, feeling him near her. "Go to sleep, Peter. We have a long day ahead."

Her eyes closed again but it didn't deter him. He leaned in and whispered. "What would happen if the Little Mermaid because a human? To stay with her Prince?"

Wendy opened her eyes slowly and turned to him. She stared at him for a while, drinking his vulnerability and honesty.

"She would never be happy, Peter. She would miss the magic of her world too much and life would become too real. She will die one day, slowly... while she could live countless lifetimes under the ocean." she sat up to look at him as he processed this information.

----------------------------------

It was late at night when the doorbell rang, startling the household and placing them in alert.

"Who could it be, George? At this hour!" Mary cried, following him down the stairs.

"Perhaps there's news on Wendy--"

They didn't need any more incentive, as they rushed as fast as their feet could carry them downstairs. Without checking who it was, Mr. Darling yanked the door opened and stood back.

Mrs. Darling gasped and pulled her robe tightly against her small frame.

"May I help you, sir?" Mr. Darling asked, hoping his voice didn't waver.

Before stood a very finely dressed older man, gray beard and mustache, in a polished top hat and a shiny cane. Two man-servants stood behind him, one holding an umbrella against the light rain the other had rung the doorbell and was stepping aside so the older man could be the focal attention.

"Mr. and Mrs. Darling?" he asked. His voice was fine and deep making Mr. Darling jump slightly.

"Y-yes. I don't believe we've met, sir... and what is the meaning of calling at this un-godly hour!" he demanded, though his legs were shaking and his courage was about to break.

The man handed his walking stick to his servant. "I am Duke Arnold Waterford VII. Father to Helen of Waterford... one of the companions to your young daughter."

Mr. and Mrs. Darling gapped at him.

"May I come in, please? There are a few things that perhaps need to be explained."

-------------------------------------

Peter was still looking at her with those eyes that always told her nothing but the truth despite the words coming from his mouth. "I think... I think that happiness can be found if you want it. I think Ariel... I think she would be very happy with the Prince. In the land... both humans. If he'd have her."

Wendy stared at him and slowly, every so slowly a small smile came to her face. "Would Ariel really give up all she holds dear... really give it up? For love?"

Peter came closer, his upper body leaning in making the heat between them almost unbearably delicious. Staring at her lips something felt... different. His body did a reaction he had never felt before. A swift and sweet sensation right under his stomach almost made him jump.

"For love... perhaps I was a bit rash when I mentioned before that I hated it."

Wendy gave him a full smile that made his lower abdomen jump once more and he started feeling... uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. But a feeling of incompleteness and longing swept over him.

The need to please her so that she would be happy. Happy with him.

"I could make you happy, Wendy," he told her, his eyes wide and so close to hers.

Her eyes softened. 

"I could... if you would simply let me try. I'll be a man--"

"Peter, you're already a man." she told him.

He looked down at himself. "I don't know how... I never intended to make myself a man... I never let myself be caught."

"Love caught you, Peter. The type of love that only grown-ups feel. You felt an adult emotion, Peter. That is why, I believe... you're growing up." she told him softly. "Once you feel a certain way... see certain things...." her mind went to the events of the past two weeks. "... you can never be a child again. Ever."

His eyes clouded as she looked sadly down to her hands.

"I do love you, Wendy..."

Wendy's head snapped up to look at him.

".... I think I must have loved you since the moment I first saw you... asleep in your bed. I simply didn't know what it meant. To love, that is... but somehow I knew. I knew that from that moment on my life as it was would never be the same again." he leaned in closer.

"Peter...."

He didn't let her finish as he gentle and ever so passionate kissed her. This time she responded back.

-------------------------------

"May I get you some tea, sir?" Mrs. Darling asked.

Lord Waterford shook his head. 

"No, thank you, my dear," his brow was troubled and dark.

"George?" she asked Mr. Darling. 

"No, thank you, Mary... come, sit," he motioned to the spot next to him on the settee. She quickly sat next to him, both looking on to the older man who was settling himself in their large armchair.

"Do you have any other children other than Wendy?" he asked.

Mr. and Mrs. Darling were startled at the question. "Y-yes... we have six. Six more... boys."

The man's eye brows shot up. "Dear me!"

Mrs. Darling smiled fondly. "They're all very dear, truly... but Wendy is our only girl."

Mr. Darling looking sadly at her, placing his own hands over her folded ones. "What is it that you come to speak to us about, Mr. Waterford?"

The Lord cleared his throat. "Yes... well. Helen, my daughter.... she's my only child. She alone stands to inherit all that my fathers before me have accumulated... many of which is land. Land in both Germany and Russia. Good land... desirable land." He took a deep breath. "If she's no longer... alive... the land in which would've been passed to her comes to the land of the crown. I have no other heirs... we are the last of our line."

"I don't understand what this has to do with our Wendy," Mr. Darling asked, his concern evident in his voice.

"I've had my own men tracking the children down since their disappearance... apparently the army has been alerted of their importance... they're being hunted down."

Mrs. Darling gasped.

"They must have seen something of particular interest to opposing forces and have deemed it best to discard of the children before they reach our safe borders."

"Our _safe_ borders?" Mr. Darling asked, rather heatedly.

"George..." Mrs. Darling warned, holding on to his hands. 

"They have been spotted by my men... but at the same time my men were spotted... all were killed except for one who was able to get away and send me this telegram before he died."

He took out a small paper from his coat pocket and with a slightly shaking hand gave it to Mr. Darling.

Equally nervous, Mr. Darling took it, opened it to read it's contents.

"_I have spotted the girls, fifty miles north west of the school, they're dressed in peasants clothes and planning to cross the great mountain. A young man is with them, a recent addition to their party. All seem well._" Mr. Darling read.

"Peter!" Mrs. Darling cried, standing up with a smile on her face. "He found her, George, he found Wendy!"

"You know this man?" Mr. Waterford cried, a bit disturbed.

"He's really only a boy... a friend of my daughter, he went in search of her when we first found out what had occurred." she explained.

Mr. Waterford's shoulders sagged. "Is a good young man... a respectable one?"

Mrs. Darling understood what he meant and nodded. "Yes... he'd die for my daughter. I know it."

-----------------------------------------------

He had been staring at the scene for so long his head began to hurt.

He wondered to himself if he should really be feeling the way he was feeling. He should actually be feeling elated. He had found them... they were still alive and ready to be killed by his hand.

But he knew now there was one of them his hand would never be able to kill.

_Wendy_. Her name was Wendy.

He could see her face clearly from were he was standing, hiding amongst the frosty bushes and looking in to the warmth that the scene by the bonfire reflected.

Her eyes were closed and _Peter_ kissed her. Lashed brushes her upper cheeks ever so slightly. 

She was majesty in it's own. Simply beautiful.

He truly felt sick, he must be at least three years her senior but there was no part of her that remained a child. He could tell from the light coming from her eyes.

She had seen too much, just like he had.

He wanted her.

He'd had many women in his time, mostly older than he was and all way more experienced than he... but never had he desired something so pure and perfect... _needing_ of a real man.

Something that this boy and his infatuation could never give her.

A small smile came to his face as he brought the gun up and pointed it. Pointed it at the young man's back. Aiming straight he pressed his index finger against the trigger... and pulled.

He wondered if he should feel remorse when his beauty started screaming as Peter fell to the floor, blood covering his chest.

------------------------------------

TBC....

A/N: Firstly; I am sorry this took the time it did, school and RL have been really hectic and I've really not had the time to write. I know I left a nasty cliffhanger here so I'll try to have the next chapter done in a week's time or less. :) Thank you ever so for the feedback!


	10. A GrownUp thing to do

**A Grown-up Thing to Do **(part 10 of 'My Brave Wendy') 

by Isabelle 

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me; this is just done for entertainment. Chapter Disclaimers: Poem stated here is "Visions of the Daughters of Albion" by Blake

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references) 

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you. 

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan"; it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did. 

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her. 

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!! 

Appreciation: My beta, who rocks my world at this moment, Rogue!! 

------------------------------------ 

_The Eye Sees more than the Heart knows_

Somewhere deep inside she knew she mustn't panic, because panicking would probably lead to his death.

A death she couldn't deal with. But this entire situation was something she didn't want to deal with. There was just so much blood. His blood/. All over the place, bathing her and reminding her that this might be the last touch of is flesh that she might ever feel.

Peter's eyes were wide and confused and he started coughing.

"Peter!" she cried, finally jumping out of her unbelieving haze. "Peter, no!"

She instinctively placed her small hands on his wound, pressing against the blood flow that tried to burst through her fingers.

Peter groaned and struggled against her.

"Joanna!" Wendy cried, the girls had awakened at the sound of the gun and were screaming.

Joanna quickly came to Wendy, looking down at Peter she understood and searched for their supplies.

"Where did the shot come from?" Anna asked, frightened and looking at the brushes.

"Take cover!" Wendy cried at them, still looking down at the struggling Peter. "Peter, please don't struggle--remain still or you'll loose more blood."

He seemed to be hearing her from very far away but the blinking in his eyes told her he understood and he simply closed his eyes and sagged back, his breath coming out in wheezes.

"Joanna, hurry!" Wendy cried, scanning the bushes herself--terrified that another bullet might come from them.

-------------------------

Christian watched as Wendy struggled to save the young man, speaking to him quietly, reassuringly. He watched as they tried to work with the minimal supplies that they had.

He watched as tears started to run down her face when she realizes they really didn't have the supplies needed to save him... and something inside of him broke.

Christian Kelley was not someone to 'break'. He was strong, strength kept him alive, kept him alive to fight another day, to survive and make something out of shit-life he's been handed.

But it did. Something did break as he saw the two young lovers loosing each other. He looked down at his boots, his jaw twitching and his grip on his riffle turning his knuckles white.

"Peter, please be strong," he heard Wendy sob.

He had taken something from this girl... something she obviously loved. 

He had turned into the monster his father had been.

The though eat his mind like acid on flesh and he snapped his eyes back to the scene and gulped the cool air.

Determination took over him and he stood up, slowly and started walking towards the angel who had broken him.

---------------------------

Wendy was too preoccupied with helping Joanna wrap bandages around Peter's bleeding chest to notice the stranger that walked in clear view to their camp.

It was only when Rosalind cried out for her to watch out that she realized it, she quickly pulled Peter's blade and brandished it at him.

The young man looked at her with a mixture of awe and longing.

"You shot him!" she accused him, taking in the riffle in his hand.

The man looked down at his riffle and slowly brought it down. His eyes were calm and brown, clear and in a strange way comforting... like she's seen him before.

She knew this man.

That though made her jump back, the only men she was really familiar with other than her brothers and father were the soldiers who were out to kill them.

"I did." he stated. All too calm for Wendy's taste, her eyes narrowed and she placed the blade at better view. "I was hunting... deer... I saw commotion and shot... I though you all were a herd."

Her brow furrowed. "A herd?"

The young man nodded, then looked down at Peter. "He wont make it... there isn't a town for miles."

Wendy's eyes filled with tears at his words. "No!" she moaned, dropping the blade and going back to Peter who was slowly paling, his eyes flickering close but always his gaze steady on her. She reached out to take his hand, it was cool, but he gentle squeezed back, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

Christian watched her, watched their grieving looks and shuddered. "I have some supplies... and I've had some experience... some medical training."

Wendy's head turned to him once more, a slight shine of hope in those blue orbs.

"You do?" she asked, excitement growing in her.

"... I don't know what I can do... but I can try." he offered.

Wendy stood from her place and walked to him, his body responding to her closeness. "Oh please... please do something... I can't loose him."

Her voice was so desperate, so needing... a large part of him wished desperately for someone to love him like that, especially if that someone was Wendy. He looked down at Peter, the boy had only minutes.

His jaw tightened as he looked back at her. Tears were running freely down her cheeks. 

"I beg of you, sir.... please."

He really didn't have to think twice on it but simple nodded, pulled out his bag and crouched before the young man.

----------------------------------

"I will be keeping you informed, of course." Mr. Waterford told them. "My transport leave tonight to Switzerland... I will send you a telegram the moment I arrive."

Mrs. Darling came forward and embraced the man, ignoring the rules of politeness in their society. Mr. Waterford was confused for a moment but quickly returned the embrace, patting her back comfortingly.

"Thank you so much, dear sir," she told him, a smile on her face.

He placed his hat back on and nodded. "As long as our young hero stays with them we should be alright."

-----------------------------------

Wendy had stayed with Peter while Christian worked, talking to Peter though he was completely unconscious by then, she kept holding his hand and stroking his face.

Joanna stayed and helped Christian with the 'dirty' work, watching and learning as he extracted the bullet from the pale chest.

"He's a strong boy," Christian commented after he had pulled the bullet out. "... but I don't know if I can control the bleeding. He looks to have internal bleeding..."

Joanna bit her lip and looked down.

Wendy looked up from her gazing at Peter's face to look at him. "... what do you mean?"

Christian cleaned his bloody hands with a towel and shook his head. "The bullet hit his lungs... punctured them... I doubt he'll last the night..."

Wendy's wide blue eyes stared at him, he wondered if she'd gone into shock herself.

"No." she said finally after a while. She looked down at Peter. "We need to get him back to Neverland."

Christian arched his eyes brow. "Neverland?"

"Neverland... were he's from. We need to take him to the queen fairy, she'll know what to do."

"But we don't know were Tinkerbell is, Wendy." Joanna told her calmly.

"Tinkerbell?" Christian asked, even more confused than before.

"His fairy," Wendy explained, standing up herself and looking up to the night sky.

"Fairy... there's no such thing as fai--" Christian's words were cut off when Wendy slapped her hand on his mouth, preventing him from speaking. She was breathing harshly and she was so close to him that he was very willing to believe in fairies if it meant having her this close all of the time.

"Never say that," she told him, the realized their closeness and backed away quickly, as if burnt. "I'll see if I can contact her."

"Contact her?" Joanna asked her. "Why couldn't we contact her before."

Wendy turned to look at her friend. "I didn't want it bad enough." With one last lingering look at Peter's almost cold body she walked away from the camp.

------------------------------------

She settled herself by the small frozen pond, her skirts fanning out about her. She pulled her hair loose, tucked her legs under her, straightened her back and closed her eyes.

She placed each of her palms against her chest and took a deep breath, inhaling the cold night air.

Wendy then started to imagine, imagine what she remembered--her memories.

"Neverland... Tinkerbell..." a clear picture came to her of the little fairy, though most images were not nice ones she concentrated as much as she could on the little fairy.

"Tinkerbell... Peter needs you," she whispered, willing her should to connect to the small pixie. A clear picture of Peter smiling as they flew over lush forests came to her mind.

"He needs you, Tinkerbell... where are you?"

She felt the breeze pick up, the wind hollowed and chilled her.

"Please, Tinkerbell... hear me... I need you... Peter is dying..." tears started to fall down her cheeks. "... you need to take him back, Tinkerbell... please save him...."

Now all she could feel was pain as the only picture before her was of a dying Peter, his eyes closing slowly, a small smile of farewell on his lips.

"Don't let him die... please Tinkerbell... I know you can feel him..."

She didn't know how long she sat there, sobs wrecking her body as image past image swirled before her mind and the words of pleading kept coming from her mouth.

She was tired. Consumed. Emotionally drained.

She had nothing left. The weeks now of traveling, Peter's return and now Peter's demise were all too much.

After a while she felt a hand, lightly on her shoulder.

"Wendy?" it was a male voice.

"Peter?" she sat up, looking at him.

"No, I'm afraid," the man before her told her. The one who had shot Peter... accidentally.

"Oh..." she looked down, tears falling once more.

"I'm sorry, Wendy... I really am." he took a deep breath. "He's dead... I couldn't do anything..."

Wendy simply stared at her hands.

".... if she could at least come to take his body away... he would like to rest in Neverland, not here. There's too much pain here." she said softly.

"We'll take care of him as much as we can..." he said and slowly placed her on her feet.

She was shaking and pale.

"Let's get you closer to the fire... you're iced."

She took one last look at the sky, hoping to see a flicker of a fairy shine... but nothing... so she let the man lead her to the fire.

Peter's body was still, his eyes closed and Joanna wrapped a blanket around him, sniffling herself... the other girls were openly sobbing in a corner.

Wendy pulled out of the man's arms and slowly walked to Peter, kneeling next to him. 

His face looked so peaceful, no pain was on it...searching in to his shirt she found what she was looking for. Her thimble, the one she'd given to him.

The sight of it made her composure break and the tears that she once held back could not be stopped now.

"Peter," she sobbed, grasping his hand and resting her forehead against his still chest. "...you promised not to leave me...."

What startled her was not the noises of the other people screaming in fright, it was the feeling she got. Magic was about.

Her head snapped up, face still marred with tears when she saw it.

A dancing light in the wind, flying towards them so fast if she would've blinked she would've missed it.

"Tinkerbell!" Joanna cried, pointing at the light. "It's a fairy, Wendy!"

"Tink?" Wendy whispered.

The light come close and closer until the small fairy was hovering over Peter and Wendy.

She finally come to rest on Peter's chest, looking down sadly at his face.

"He's gone Tink... we were too late..." Wendy told her softly, reaching out to brush his wild hair from his forehead.

The little pixie looked up at Wendy and showed her a small leather sac she carried over her tiny shoulder.

Wendy looked at her, curiously. Tink blinked and flew to Wendy's face, making a cup with her fairy dust, pretending to drink it and gagging with a grimace.

"Medicine..." Wendy realized. 

Tinkerbell blinked happily, shoving the small sac at her. 

"But... he's gone already, Tink... medicine cannot help that," more tears fell from her cheeks.

The fairy blinked, angrily and tossed the sac to her. 

"Ok... fine!" Wendy snapped, angrily.

Carefully she opened the small packet, placing her hand behind the back of his neck she raised Peter up slightly.

Tink blinked angrily and stomped her small feet on his chest.

"What..." Wendy saw she was pointing at Peter's wound. "Pour it there?"

Tinkerbell blinked, glaring at her regardless.

Wendy let go of Peter's head and brought the sac to his chest, closing her eyes against hope and poured the thick substance over the wound.

A sizzling sound came from his flesh, turning it bright red as it was absorbed by his body. Wendy poured out all of the contents, watching in fascination as his chest started to rise, lifting him into the air. She gasped and stepped back as light started to burst out of his body.

She jumped back, watching Peter be lifted ten feet into the air, the wind began to hollow and snow started to fall in gentle flakes.

"What the--" Christian whispered, still in shock over the apparent fairy jumping about and now Peter's body floating, shinning and producing magical snow.

"How magical..." Helen whispered as they watched the scene before them.

"He really is magical!" Rosalind cried, happily.

Peter's body continued to float, and starburst started to shoot from him. All screamed and backed away except for Wendy who face was shaping a smile.

"Peter..." she whispered.

Then something burst and illuminated the entire area, sending off such a large amount of energy that threw them all on their backs.

By the time Wendy sat up to look at Peter he was being floated to the ground, making him land on his knees.

The his head slowly was lifted and he opened his eyes, looked directly at Wendy.

"That was a grand adventure," he said, a smile on his face.

-----------------------------------------

TBC....

A/N: Hope you're all happy with the outcome of this situation ;) For those of you interested, there's 7 more chapters after this one so the story is not over yet ;)

Also, I know many of you have mentioned the grammar/spelling. Let me remind you once more that this version I am posting it not beta'd. If you want to check out the beta'd version, I post it a few days after this one and you can read it over at my fanfiction site www.plastic-slut.com/purplepoet

I'm very glad so many of you are enjoying it! Please leave a review, do you know that out of 10 readers only 2 leave a review? Don't be a statistic!


	11. Jealousy

**Jealousy **(part 11 of '_My Brave Wendy_') 

by Isabelle 

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me; this is just done for entertainment. Chapter Disclaimers: Poem stated here is "Visions of the Daughters of Albion" by Blake and song lyrics are "Tango de Roxanne" from Moulin Rouge.

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references) 

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you. 

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan"; it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did. 

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her. 

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!! 

Appreciation: My beta, who rocks my world at this moment, Rogue!! 

----------------------------

_They told me that the night & day were all I could see  
They told me that I had five sense to in close me up._

"The fairy queen."

"The fairy queen?" Christian asked.

All eyes were on Peter as he finished talking to Tinkerbell.

"Yes, the fairy queen. She had a dream and could see what would happen," Peter told them, his eyes on Wendy. "So she summoned Tinkerbell to give her the potion."

"Oh," was all Wendy could muster. Mostly she was still shaking from the experience, her heart fluttering and her palms sweaty.

The chuckling made her look back. The man who had accidentally shot Peter was chuckling! She fumed.

"A _fairy_ queen... t-this is ridiculous!" he cried. "You know, there's such thing as science, western medicine!"

Wendy and Peter's eyes narrowed.

"Oh really!" she stated, hotly. "What do you suppose did that, _penicillin_?"

"Could be!" he snapped at her. 

"And the cinematics?" she challenged.

"Adverse bodily reaction- look!" he came forward but Wendy backed up into Peter. "I don't mean to hurt you, Wendy."

Those words made Peter reach out and grab her hand, bringing her to him.

That didn't go unnoticed to Christian. He ignored it for the time being. 

"I'm just saying that the boy has obviously gone through a lot today... and--" He was stopped short when Tinkerbell floated with a smug smile in front of him.

He gulped and looked away. "This is some type of hallucination. Maybe it's the water."

"You sure play denial very well," Joanna told him, smiling at the sparkling Tinkerbell.

"I'm not..." but his words faded as everyone began ignoring him and packing their things. "I'm just saying... where are you all going?"

Peter helped Wendy heft her own bag on her shoulders and turned to look at him. "Before we were _detained_, we were in a mission."

Christian's insides turned to mush. He knew all too well of missions.

"Oh... see." he said softly. "Heading where?"

Wendy looked at him from the corner of her eye then turned to Peter.

"I don't trust him," he whispered to her.

Wendy bit her lip, glancing at the man once more. "I think I've met him before... but I can't recall where."

A shadow crossed Peter's face and his features hardened. "I like him even less."

"Peter, really!" she hissed.

A smug smile came to his lips. "Cant blame me, can you?"

"It was an accident, Peter!" 

"So he says," Peter told her, glaring at the man who was starring at them, suspiciously.

Wendy's features softened and she reached out to touch his cheek. That instantly relaxed Peter as he leaned into her heat. "You have nothing to worry about, Peter... really."

Her smile mirrored his.

"I still don't like him."

She laughed and turned to look at the man. "If you're going to know anything of us or even come with us we shall at least know your name, no?"

Christian had held his composure while the two had laughed and touched, his heart drumming a mile an minute and his eyes turned to little slits. He was fuming. Jealousy was driving him mad.

He had two options at that moment. He could let her know the real him, hoping that soon she would tire of the young boy or lie to her only to have her find out later and despise him for it.

"Kelley. Christian Kelley. Straight from Montana." he told her, tipping his hat.

"From America?" Anna asked, stepping closer, eying Christian. He ignored her.

Wendy's face was clouded, not noticing when Peter stepped next to her, looking at her curiously. 

"Wendy?"

"Christian..." she bit her lip, her eyes closing. "Have we ever met before?"

Christian couldn't help smirking. "I would've remembered, I'm sure."

To this Wendy blushed and looked down.

Peter turned to glare at Christian. "Well... _Christian_, let's go."

Christian nodded, still smirking as he watched Peter pull Wendy, her eyes still looking at him curiously.

----------------------------------

The group stopped in awe to stare at the large mountain before them. All in awe except for Peter.

"Tink!" he cried.

The little pixie who was enjoying tremendous attention from Helen and Rosalind who didn't fail to praise her and admire her came bumbling forth.

"We need to fly," he told her. 

She glared at the amount of People he was requesting and shook her head, flying away.

"Tinkerbell!" he shouted after her.

"Why wont she?" Wendy asked him, her voice tired with exhaustion.

Peter bit his lip as the fairy blinked nastily at him then sighed. "Too many people... too many grown ups." He turned to glare at Christian.

"I can find my way through the mountain, thank you--I'm not keen on _flying_." he answered back sarcastically.

Wendy nodded. "I doubt I have a happy thought left in me, Peter."

Peter turned sharply to look at her, her face was drawn and if possible she was paler than before. 

"Why don't you and the pixie from hell take the girls and I'll make sure Wendy gets through the mountain alright," Christian suggested.

At that Peter's ears turned red and he moved protectively in front of Wendy. "No!"

Wendy's hand was at his shoulder instantly. "Peter... perhaps it'll be a better idea... you fly ahead and get help."

Peter's eyes didn't leave Christian and they seemed to be engaged in what seemed to be a staring contest.

"I'm not leaving you with _him_." 

Christian chuckled and put his bags down, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. 

"Peter! I'm sure Mr. Kelley is saying it with the best of intentions," she turned to Christian. "Aren't you, Mr. Kelley?"

Christian nodded, giving Peter a hidden smile. "Of course, Miss. Darling."

Peter fumed, turning to face Wendy. "If I fly we all fly, if you don't fly none of us will."

"I shall certainly enjoy flying, Peter," Anna interrupted coming closer to him. "Wont you teach me... teach us?"

Peter stared at Anna then at Wendy who was glaring at Anna. "...p-perhaps it's best if we all simply stay together."

Anna's smile fell, looking down at her shoes. "Well... we'd better get started then... the downside of the mountain is long ways ahead."

---------------------------------

When they had walked for nearly half a day their bodies shook with exhaustion and they all agree to stop, camp in a small cave for a night until the sun rose once more.

Wendy was the first to fall asleep, snuggling close to Peter and letting their small campfire warm them. Peter alternated between making sure was asleep to glaring at Christian who sat relaxed opposite to them, smoking his cigar. There was always that small glint of smirk in his face that made Peter boil.

He truly didn't know what he was feeling. It was a feeling like he'd never experienced before... except for that one time Wendy had told him he was deficient. That Hook had _feelings_. But he had shown her feelings, no? What more could girls want?

He loved her, told her that he loved her and as soon as that happened another man waltzed in. The grown-up world was so complicated, so delicate and so hurtful.

Just to see them talking to each other would make his stomach tighten in the most uncomfortable of ways. It wasn't to much her but him... the way he looked at her. He knew that look also for he'd often had it on his face.

This man was in love with Wendy. His Wendy. And _that_ just wouldn't do.

So he stayed up, despite his body screaming for sleep to watch over her, to make sure Christian didn't come any closer to her and to make sure if she had any unpleasant dreams it would be him who would console her and not _Christian_.

---------------------------------

In her dreams the world was much more lovely than her realities. In her dream she was standing before her mirror, in her home. Her own room which she had acquired the moment she had come back from Neverland. She would've never admitted it but she loved it's soft pastel colors, the pale pink bed and all the girly attributes in it.

She of course would never admit to it, pretended she hated it.

But there she stood, in front of her large mirror as it showed her how beautiful she had become.

Once more she was a grown woman. Her breast had grown slightly, her hips also, her waist made thinner giving her a perfectly lovely womanly figure.

She gazed at how the yellow dress looked on her. It was obvious that she was gong to a party. It showed off her shoulders and upper back, dipping elegantly to show off the slightest rising of her breasts.

She looked so much like her mother, all elegantly dresses with a soft smile on her face. Her hair was made up in an elegant bun adorned with small tiny daisies that smiled back at her. Her cheeks and lips painted with the most delicate rouge, and her eye lids had a fine pencil line on them.

She blinked back at herself. 

She had apparently not noticed her mother next to her who was smiling back at her. 

"You look simply divine, darling."

"The dress is lovely mother... an I fir so well in it." she responded, gliding her hands from her waist to her skirts.

"Well, you're a woman now, Wendy."

"A woman?" she repeat, unsure of those words herself.

"Yes... and he'd here." Mrs. Darling told her, grasping her upper arms and giving her a hug.

"_He_?" Wendy asked, doubtful a forming smile on her face.

"Yes... _he_ is here."

Wendy's heart started thumping, her blood felt like acid in her veins as she picked up her skirts, unceremoniously and left her room. The stairs were simply an obstacle that was standing between her and Peter.

She nearly ran down them to the parlor. She could hear voices, her father was speaking... he was speaking with another man. This only made her go faster, trying to get to him as soon as possible.

"Pet--" her voice was cut off as both men turned to see her enter.

"Wendy! You look simply spectacular!" she heard her father say but all she could feel and think was this man before her.

"Mr. Kelley," she whispered staring at the other man, dressed in a fine suit with fresh flowers in his hand.

He smiled at her, almost amused. "You haven't called me that since we first me, darling." he chuckled and came closer to her. "You look simply divine, Wendy."

Her father made a noise of agreement but she could only stare at him.

"You're the one from my dream... _this_ is only a dream," she told herself.

He handed her the flowers, white roses.

"Not a dream, my love. Only the future." he took her hand in his and brought it to his mouth, brushing his lips softly against her knuckles.

"No, Christian!" her hand pulled back and she felt herself fall backwards.

The she woke, her eyes wide, her heart pumping.

All these voices calling her name came around her.

"It was just a dream, Wendy, simply a dream," Peter who was in front of her told her, holding her upper arms.

"No... not a dream." a tear slid down her cheek as she looked on at Peter his face concerned and dark. Jealousy was swimming in his eyes. Jealousy. The last emotion to make a man complete. She had made him a man. She finally succeeded. "... the future."

_Jealousy  
Will drive you… Mad _

"I believe the lady called for me, dear boy," a voice that made the little hairs in the back of her neck stand on end.

She turned to look at him. He looked a bit younger than her dream but it was Christian Kelley none the less. The man her dreams told her she would marry. How could se marry a man that even in her dreams made her so unhappy?

"She didn't!" Peter hissed at him.

"She did!" Anna insisted, a smile slowly forming in her face as she looked at the trio.

Peter let go of her upper arms as if scorched. His eyes were wide with incredulity. "You did..." his voice was soft and ... defeated.

He didn't turn to look at her or at Christian simply stood up... letting the other man in.

Wendy was trapped, didn't know what to do. It truly was not her fault she kept dreaming of this man, she _wanted_ to dream of Peter like she had done so many nights in that year he had been away but her dream were not dictate by her.

"I... I now know where I've seen you before, Mr. Kelley." she told him softly.

Christian squat before her, his hands on his knees as he peered curiously at her. "Where then?"

Her face must've turned a deep shade of scarlet because she heard Anna giggle at her dispense. 

"In my... I've seen you in my dreams. Tonight twice." she whispered but Peter heard. He heard her very clearly because he nearly ran out of the small cave. "Peter!"

_His eyes upon your face   
His hand upon your hand   
His lips caress your skin   
It's more than I can stand _

He didn't stop as her eyes searched for him, desperately, turning back to look at the amused Christian. 

"You might be in my dreams, Mr. Kelley." she stood up and stared down at him. "But Peter's in my heart and soul."

Without any other words she ran off after Peter into the night.

--------------------------------

_Why does my heart cry? _

Peter had decided without a doubt that being a man was a terrible experience. No wonder Hook was always so bitter. All these_ feelings_ and _emotions_ were a roller coaster ride which hardly brought on any fun. He doubted he could even fly now if he wanted.

All the fairy dust in the world could not lift his feet. He left like a piece of lead, a piece of cement in his heart weighting him down though his feet were firmly on the ground.

He felt his world breaking, his world was turning shades he didn't recognize. 

He felt... hate... malice... jealousy... anger... resentment.... and love. Love was still there and that one hurt the most. How can something that was claimed to be so good hurt so much?

It hurt his heart.

_Feelings I can't fight _

He wanted to hate her, he did! He wanted nothing more than to pluck her from his heart and then he could go back and be a little boy and have fun all day.

The prospect sounded marvelous. But he now knew it was impossible. He wouldn't want to forget the way she smelled or the shape of her eyes when she smiled or the way her lips pouted ever lightly when she slept. He didn't want to forget anything at all. There were memories he held as close as his own life within himself. He knew, he knew and had accepted that hi life would never again be the same. He had accepted her inside of his heart and now all that did was burn.

"Peter?"

Her body stilled as he heard her approaching. He thought about hiding for a little while but knew that his footsteps would be traced in the snow-covered ground.

"Peter... would you listen to me?" she asked, standing there behind him.

_You're free to leave me   
But just don't deceive me   
And please   
Believe me when I say   
I love you _

"Leave me alone, Wendy," he told her, his face not even turning to look at her. He felt her come closer and his body stiffened. "I said to leave me alone!"

"I..." her could hear the tears in her voice. "I can't help what I dream!" 

Her voice was venom to his soul and he just wanted to curl up and die. Turning to look at her, there in their snow-covered kingdom.

"No. You can't." his voice was stiff and controlled.

She came closer, and he pulled from her.

"I need to tell you something, Peter, would you please listen?"

His nostrils were flaring. 

"Well, I need to ask you something will you please answer?" he retorted.

Her mouth shut and she nodded but he would feel the waves of hurt coming off her.

"Why... why does love hurt so much?" his voice was shaking but he didn't care. He needed answers, he needed to know.

"I d-don't think it's supposed to," she told him softly. 

He nodded, his jaw cracking. "Well... perhaps it only hurts when it's not supposed to happen."

She started shaking her head and her eyes got glittery and watery. "No, Peter--"

She would've defended her love, their love but they were all too soon interrupted by many men coming towards there, some with guns and others with dogs.

They did try to hide until they heard Helen crying out from the cave entrance.

"Father!"

_You left me...you left me like a dove   
My soul has left me; my heart has left me _

----------------------------------------

TBC.....

A/N: BUAWWHHH. Evil, I now. Have patience and let me tell my emotionally-charged love story, ok? ;) I had some questions I'm answering:

- Why don't I post the beta'd version in ff.net?  
Because I'm an impatient person who needs to have the chapter up as soon as I finish it. If the grammar is really deterring you from enjoying the fiction just wait a few days and check it out in my archive.

- Is Peter going to die? Are Wendy and Peter getting together? Will Wendy marry Christian? Is Anna going to die?  
All of these questions will be answered as the story progresses. If I finish the series and your question has not been answered then you're welcomed to ask me.

- Why can't you post more often?  
Because, unlike other humans, I have only been granted 2 hands and they type as fast as they can.

- Who us Christian Kelley?  
He is the man in Wendy's dream. If you read the fiction carefully and slowly you'll catch that.

- When will you update again?  
When I can.

Thanks! Q &A session over!


	12. Curtains Always Flow

**Curtains Always Flow** (part 12 of '_My Brave Wendy_') 

by Isabelle 

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me; this is just done for entertainment. Chapter Disclaimers:

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references) 

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you. 

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan"; it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did. 

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her. 

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!! 

Appreciation: My beta, who rocks my world at this moment, Rogue!! All the lovely reviewers that were patient with me when this chapter took longer than the rest! :)

------------------------

They didn't really protest when the soldiers mounted them on horses and took them away. They came with more food, warm coats and blankets.

The Duke was smitten with Peter--right from the start.

_"My dears! You are all alright, thank heavens!" he cried._

_Helen who was firmly attached to his hip smiled up at her father as if he were the grandest thing in the world. Wendy realized then that she missed her own mother and father and wanted nothing more than to be in her warm home, wrapped in their embrace._

_"It's been dreadful, father!" Helen had cried. "If it weren't for Peter, Wendy and even Joanna we would all be dead, father!"_

_The Duke had turned to face Peter who still had a dark, suspicious look on him. "Peter is it?" he addressed him._

_Peter eyed him carefully then bowed, as he'd always done, the perfect gentleman. "Peter Pan, sir."_

_The Duke had smiled and given him a small chuckle. "Delightful youth! Come, my boy--I shall personally make sure that your heroism is not overlooked!"_

_Peter had tried to protest as the Duke insisted that Peter ride in the front with him, demanding Peter tell him some of his tales of adventures (none that he believed, of course) but he was entertained none the less._

----------------------

Peter being away from Wendy gave Christian the right opportunity to accompany Wendy. He had helped her on her horse and taken to stay right with her, despite her protests that she was fine. She had made sure to keep Joanna near her, avoiding to look at him at all costs.

When Joanna was called away by Rosalind who insisted she had seen the most bizarre creature Christian had smiled and galloped closer to her.

"Have I done something to offend you, Miss. Darling?" he inquired, his dark head turning to look at her.

Wendy had stiffed and looked away. "You need not use such formalities with me, Mr. Kelley. I'm just a little girl."

He had chuckled at that, looking proudly at her from his horse. "I beg words with any man or woman who says that. I seem to have grasped quite a different opinion of you, can you not think why?"

"Your opinions are breached by hours of acquaintance, Mr. Kelley--hardly an opinion to be valued." Wendy snipped, looking away once more.

Christian studied her, up on a horse that was too large for her, her eyes darting every few seconds to were Peter was animatedly telling the Duke of his adventures.

"You yearn for this Peter?" he asked softly.

That comment made her jump and she turned bright red, avoiding his gaze.

"Mr. Kelley, I hardly think this is a proper topic of conversation!" she was insulted. Good. He though she looked lovely when she was livid.

"A thousand apologies, dear lady." he told her, but the smile was still shinning on his face. 

"You find amusement in my discomfort, Mr. Kelley. Not a gentleman-like quality." she noticed it and smirked when his own smile faded.

"It was not my intention to make you see otherwise... _Wendy_." 

She couldn't help but smile back. 

"I'm a fast learner," he told her, noticing her approval.

"I see."

----------------------------------

They reached the mansion a few hours later, the entire party was ready for a long rest. While the Duke explained that it was a winter "cabin" he kept for Sky trips Wendy could only marvel at it.

The supposed _Cabin_ must've been four floors high, with over twenty windows going across in each floor. Many chimneys decorated it's top, and the wood shinned brilliantly in the dawning sun.

"_Le Maison de Foret_!" Helen had squealed when she saw it. "I've often heard of it but have never had the chance to see it!"

"It's lovely," Anna had cried, her relief that they had reached civilization evident in her face.

"_Monsieur_ Waterford!" an older large woman cried when she saw them arrive.

"Ahh! Mrs. Jacques, children." The Duke had told them. "She's the finest housekeeper in all of Europe!"

And so the woman had assured them in, taken their coats and pushed them to the warm fire were they delighted in it's warmth. 

"I shall have the rooms done immediately!" she had cried. "Ti's poor children!"

More maids ushered in, bringing in plates filled with soups, breads and warm cider. They ate like they had never eaten before, gulping down their cider, and slurping their soups, completely forgetting their manners.

The Duke had simply smiled he had motioned for one of his men to send telegrams to each other the girl's parents.

"I can't wait to see Mama," Anna had told them. "I shall say there will be a party in my honor when I get back to Moscow!"

Wendy had ignored her, concentrating on her soup and avoiding both Peter and Christian's gaze. By the time they had finished their food their rooms were ready. 

Helen had her own room, which had always been set aside in case she ever came; Anna and Rosalind shared a huge room with two full beds as did Wendy and Joanna.

Peter and Christian were to share a room... at the beginning.

Everyone but Anna jumped in and demanded that they had their own separate rooms. The Duke and Mrs. Jacques had simply raised their brows and complied.

-----------------------------------------

They had slept for hours in their warm beds, being fed rich soups and crepes in their own rooms while still tucked in their beds.

"Such lovely children, _Monsieur!"_ Mrs. Jacques told him when they were finally well enough to leave their room, each looking rosier than before and in much better health.

"Yes, it's a miracle they're all so well" The Duke commented. "Peter, my boy--come here, sit with me."

Peter had purposively avoided any contact with Wendy, not looking at her, not even going her away and was most grateful when the Duke insisted that he sit with him and tell him more tales of adventure.

Wendy for her part looked crestfallen. She had dressed quickly and early in the hopes of catching Peter when he left his room in order to speak to him... but Christian had come by and asked if he could escort her to dinner.

Christian Kelley looked much more different than the hunter in the snow. He was dressed in a fine winter suit, dark black that matched his eyes.

She had waited enough for Peter, she had decided and glared at the door, turning from it and accepting Christian's offer.

"You make a delightful young couple," was the first comment they had received from The Duke as they entered the dinning hall. 

Anna had smiled at her. "They do, don't they?" 

Wendy's jaw tightened as she glared daggers at Anna. 

Joanna stepped in just in the nick of time. "Have your heard back from our parents, milord?"

That changed the topic of conversation completely as Christian helped Wendy get settled and the Duke went on about how terrible the communication lines were at this time of the year.

"We might have t stay here all winter! The storm what will be coming will make it impossible to travel," he helped Helen to her chair. "I am inviting a large party to stay with us, now that you're all safe I believe a ball in order."

"A ball!" Rosalind cried delightedly.

"Yes, yes, a nice ball in your honor!"

And so the worst of it all started. A ball brings in dancing, jealousy and love. The beginning of all troubles.

------------------------------------------

People started arriving, enough people to fill the house with guests. The Lord Duke stated that they were his kind neighbors who fancied a week-long party and eagerly came over.

Wendy heard the girl squeal in delight when the fine young men started to arrive.

For her sake she had too many men around her as it was. Enough to drive her crazy. Peter was ignoring her and avoiding her at all costs and Christian was making sure to take every possible moment to tell her how magnificent she was.

It was all a bit overwhelming.

She decided that being a lady was not all it was cut out to be.

In the mists of all of her emotions and frustration with relationships Wendy failed to notice that even though Christian was very much paying attention to her he was also doing everything possible to avoid any confrontation with any of the new members of the household.

He had dealt with too many people and too many people knew what he was exactly. 

There was serious conflict within him on a daily and momentary basis. The more he talked to Wendy, enjoyed her proper quips and come-backs the more he fell in enchanted with her. The more he wanted her. 

As the girls discussed the ball, dresses and men Wendy simply stared at them from far away... her eyes always wondering in search of Peter and his obvious anger and jealousy.

His nerves were on end, he tried to hardly leave the comforts of his room but when he knew Wendy would be about he would also venture around _le maison_. Since Wendy was also careful to avoid the adults tat were pouring into the home like flies it gave Christian every opportunity to find her alone in her solace and converse with her on things that didn't matter and in many social circles would've been found improper.

--------------------------------------------------

It was when the roasted turkeys began to arrive that Wendy's curiosity on the house's kitchens took over her and she wandered to the first floor in search of something other than drapes and fine tables.

She knew she shouldn't be there, if Mrs. Jacques (dear lady) would've found her she would've explicitly informed her that the kitchens were no place for a lady. 

After watching with keep curiosity all the dealings in the kitchen she decided to go back upstairs and join the girls as they once more went over the dresses they were wearing.

But she ran into a strong chest.

"Peter!"

Her heart leap to her throat, her eyes wide and her breath coming in short spurts.

"I'm sorry," he said and turned to walk away.

"No, wait, Peter!"

He stopped, his shoulders squared.

She cleared her throat, looking around. They were very much alone in an empty hall which was darkened by the lack of windows.

"... w-what were you going here?" she asked, tentatively.

"I was hungry," he informed her.

"Oh." was her reply.

She twisted her hands in front of her, looking down in defeat. She heard him start to walk once more.

".... Peter," her voice sounded so lost and alone it made him turn back to look at her, worry in his eyes.

After a while he asked. "What's wrong, Wendy?"

She lifted her eyes to look back at him. "... you hate me terribly, don't you?"

"I... I don't _hate_ you, Wendy." he told her, his voice quiet, his eyes unwavering. "I _hate_ him."

Hate. Another adult emotion. One that could drive a man to do things a man shouldn't be proud of doing. A proper man, at least. But Peter would never be proper, or refined. A gentleman, yes... but never proper. It was part of what she loved of him. She loved his sudden shift of emotions, his vibrancy, his tendency to say things that were not suitable or cultured. He was made out of flesh or bones not of etiquette and genteelness.

"Hate, Peter? Please don't hate... hate twists us into creatures of the night, blinded by our hatred we loose ourselves in it." she told him, stepping closer to him, her eyes pleading with him. "He's done nothing to you... or taken anything from you. I promise."

"Yet." he reminded her, his eyes still hard.

"No. Not yet, not ever, Peter... I... I love you." her voice was calm and shinny in the dark hall.

She had never told him that she loved him. She had never dared. Unlike him she had a set of principles, propriety and morals that always sing-songed in the back of her head reminding her that it was improper for a lady to behave in such a manner.

"I don't care what my dreams say, I will not lead my life by their lead. I know what my heart feels and it knows only this. One hundred nights with Christian Kelley could never compare to a minute with you."

Before she knew it his lips had aggressively captures hers, making her yelp then sink into his embrace. 

Peter, for his part, didn't really comprehend what he was doing, all he knew is that he felt elated, vibrant and alive. Her words had been sweet honey to his soul and he gushed, sinking into the feel of Wendy in his arms.

---------------------------------------------

If there had been a time to intervene it had to be now. Something had to be done... if he didn't do anything and simply stood about waiting for his chance to come through he would never have her... and he was sure that if he were to survive out of this he needed her with him.

She had become the lifeline he had never had into doing good in this world.

She was his soul and one couldn't live without one's soul.

He watched as the young man wrapped his arms more furiously around her and she sank into his embrace, whispering words of love and endearment... and he knew. Christian Kelley must end the job he started.

---------------------------------------------

"Wendy..." he said, pulling back, panting.

Her own eyes were glazed and watery. "Oh... Peter..."

"I'm sorry, Wendy. I did something to upset.... well it will since you don't know what it is yet..." he was afraid, she could see it in his eyes, they were not as blue as before.

"What... what did you do?" her voice was weary though she held her arms firmly around his shoulders.

"I... well, I was upset and the girls were talking about the ball and the dance and such... well, they were saying how lovely would be if they were invited personally to the ball by a young man... Helen mentioned she had a young man and well... I knew it would upset you!"

Wendy laughed. "Why would that upset me? Helen is welcomed to go with whom she chooses."

Peter bit his lip, his eyes lightly closing. "How about Anna... may Anna go with whom she chooses?"

Wendy let go of his shoulders. "You asked Anna, didn't you?"

"I was upset at you, I no longer am--I swear it!"

Wendy looked away from him, her bottom lip pouting slightly. "... you're taking Anna to the ball."

"I just asked her a few moments ago, I shall go and tell her I'm taking you!" he moved to leave.

"No!"

He stopped and looked at Wendy.

"It's obvious to me now, Peter Pan. It's very obvious."

His brows furrowed.

"Wendy I don't--"

"Oh be quiet! I should've known! This--this was all too easy!" her cheeks had turned bright pink and her eyes were so narrowed Peter flinched. "You fancy her! You fancy her, and I know you fancy her because you could've easily asked Joanna or Rosalind, but NO! You asked _Anna_."

"I did asked them first and they said they wouldn't dare!" he shouted back.

"So I'm you're last resort?" her cheeks flushed.

"No! You are--"

"Perhaps you were right after all Peter. Perhaps it's best we part our own ways... we can no longer live in childhood dreams of stolen kisses in empty halls... perhaps it's best if I did consider to be Mrs. Christian Kelley!"

Rage spurted in his face and he quickly grabbed her upper arms, shaking her.

"Let go of me!" she struggled against his grip.

"Take it back!" he yelled.

Using her old trick she harshly brought down her heeled foot on top of his making him shout in pain.

"No! I'll never take it back, _Peter Pan_!" she shouted once she was out of his grasps, she ran down the hall as he clutched his foot. "My only real regret was falling in love with a _boy_ such as you!"

-----------------------------------

TBC....

A/N: Don't you just love the angst? I love it! Ok, I know you've probably been wondering what's taken me so long, but I'm sorry, I really am--school has just got the best out of me. I wont be able to update until probably early next week since I'm going home for the weekend! I hope you enjoyed this part and the cliffhanger was not ... too bad. ;)


	13. Belle of the Ball

**Belle of the Ball **(part 13 of '_My Brave Wendy_') 

by Isabelle 

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me; this is just done for entertainment. 

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references) 

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you. 

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan"; it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did. 

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her. 

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!! 

Appreciation: Always to my beta Rogue, who is absolutely awesome!

--------------------------------

_This place feels so unfamiliar  
And yet I know it well  
I think I used to belong here  
But the only way I can tell  
Is that I miss you still  
And I cannot find you here  
You left me tattered and torn  
Just like that sweet Spanish doll_

_Spanish Doll - Poe_

Wendy rushed to her room ignoring as Christian called out to her and swiftly slammed the door. Her heart was thumping as fast as it would go, her palms were sweaty and her eyes were prickling with un-shed tears.

She wanted to simply break down and sob her heart out of her chest until it wouldn't ache anymore. She wanted so many things that her body wouldn't let her do, so many emotions for such a small piece of flesh that she didn't know if you could handle it.

Love was a hateful and hurtful thing.

Now she understood. Love could and would change you, change you either for the better or for the worse... and knowing now that her heart had never felt such hate, pain and discomfort she knew she was letting love change her for the worse.

She was never this fickle or unsure.

Love had made her this way. Love had made her this way and she intended on stopping it.

She was so caught up in her emotional strife that she failed to notice that all the girls were in Joanna and her room. They were huddled by the bed, laughing... at least until she came in, obviously distressed and looked at her curiously.

"Wendy... you looked as if you've seen a ghost," Joanna commented.

Wendy blinked her eyes and turned to look at them all... focusing on Anna. Trying to keep her calm she walked up to them.

"Just a bit shaken, it's all," she told them.

She walked around the bed to see what they were talking about.

"We've received the dresses!" Rosalind cried happily, in the floor along with Helen they were looking through large boxes filled with lace and satin.

"They're all divine," Helen commented. "Wont you like to see yours, Wendy?"

Taking her eyes off Anna who was looking at her with a neutral and unfeeling face she looked down to a box Helen was pushing at her. With clammy hands she picked up the box, sitting down she placed it on her lap.

"We all agreed you would look best in blue," Joanna told her, coming to sit next to her. "Helen has yellow, Rosalind has pink, mine is light green and Anna went for dark blue."

"It matches my eyes," Anna commented.

Wendy ignored her and pulled away the covering paper of the box to reveal a baby blue sating gown. She gasped. It was like mother's dresses.

"The ball is the day after tomorrow, so father hired a hair-stylists to come do our hair!" 

The girls squealed around Wendy as she gazed down at her gown. Her fingers reached down to caress the fabric. It was perfect. If only... if only she would be wearing it for the person her heart longed for.

That brought her back to the person sitting across from her. Her eyes narrowed. 

"Peter told me about you two going together to the ball." Wendy commented to Anna, she tried to keep all emotion out of her voice.

Anna sat up on Joanna's bed and looked at her innocently.

"He was the one who asked, Wendy. No need to be upset," Anna told her but behind her cool nature Wendy could feel the waves of enjoyment coming off her.

"Yes. I know. He told me." she stated quietly.

The girls around them fell silent. 

"I'm happy for you both," she continued coolly.

Rosalind shifted in the floor and looked at her curiously. "Are you going with anyone, Wendy?"

Looking down at her new beautiful gown she lifted it out of the box and stared at it. "Yes. Yes, I'm going with Christian Kelley."

--------------------------------------

By 6pm on the night of the ball the mansion had filled with over fifty over-night guests, and carriages warred their way through the snow to get to the illustrious soirée. Apparently it was the biggest thing happening in these parts all year and anyone who was anyone was not going to miss it.

Ladies arrived dressed in silk and ruffles with tasteful necklines, full skirts and shinning smiles. The gentlemen were just as handsome, in their perfectly fit black suits, top hats and walking sticks.

The large orchestra began their melody when the first of the guests arrived, and before they knew it the gentlemen were asking the ladies for dances, sweeping their long gowns over the freshly waxed floor that was illuminated by the extravagant chandeliers that were hung above.

The main ballroom mirrors from side to side; reflecting the candles that were adorning the entire room.

_"Marvelous party, is it not?"_

_"How charming to see you once more Madame LePierre!"_

_"Have you see the chandeliers, Monsieur? They say they cost fifteen thousand pounds each!"_

_"Oh, yes Mademoiselle Ruttier! We met in Moscow, did we not?"_

_"Your dear late Aunt Countess DeWinter was a dear friend of mine, perhaps you're acquainted with Prince Phillip?"_

_"I am flattered you have come, Princess Rubina; please, let me show you my humble home."_

It was around this time that Wendy drew a deep breath as she stared at herself in the mirror. She was a lady now. In a few more days she would be fifteen.

At fifteen all young ladies had their coming out parties. She was a lady, eligible to be married, courted and asked for a dance.

But all her dances belonged to just one person tonight. Mr. Christian Kelley. A man she knew nothing about except that her dreams insisted on her marrying him. Nothing else. He had told her he was a business man, a business man on a pleasure hunting trip in the alps.

She had questioned how someone so young would be in business but he quickly replied that his father had left him his business when he died last winter. So she had left it at that.

When her the knock was heard at the door she jumped slightly from gazing at her reflection.

"Miss. Darling? Mr. Kelley is here to call on you," one of the maids told her from the other side of her dressing room.

"She'll be right out. Don't worry, Wendy... you look simply beautiful," Joanna told her coming up behind her and handing her the gloves.

Wendy smiled as she took them from her. "You look absolutely beautiful too, Joanna."

Joanna smiled back at her. Joanna was slightly younger than her so she had decided that her gown should be a bit more reserved, though her shoulders were slightly bare her neckline was relatively high and flatly squared, her waist was low and princess cut giving her thin body a bit of curves and the satin fell to full gown down to the floor.

"I'm not used to being so...lovely." Joanna answered her.

"You should then." Wendy told her, grasping her gloved hands in hers and giving her a warm smile of thank you. 

"And _you_ don't have to go with Christian to the ball... you'll just be falling into Anna's trap." Joanna told her giving her a hard look.

Wendy's smile faded. "I know... it's my choice. A conscious choice... besides... I'm starting to believe that I am meant to go with Christian to the ball."

"Listen to me, Wendy." Joanna told her. "Dreams are made up of our fear, simply our fears. They don't tell nothing but what we dread the most."

"That's very wise, Joanna... where did you hear it from?"

"Around."

The girls laughed and went out to face the ball.

-----------------------------------------------

_"So don't tell me that it's over  
Don't give up on you and me  
'Cause there's no such thing as hopeless  
If you believe..."_

_The Impossible - Joe Nichols_

Just moments ago Peter had properly picked up Anna from her room and watched as she flashed him a large charming smile, holding out her gloved hand.

But he didn't smile, this entire night tasted bitter in his mouth and he was formulating a plan for later on tonight. Once the ball was over he would once again tell Wendy how he felt... then he would leave. He would leave and let her and Christian be. Let them have their happily ever after. To be man and wife to each other.

It was a decision that he had not made lightly but it was a necessary one, he understood that.

Anna had complimented on how he looked in his suit and he had simply nodded because simply stated he hated it. He hated the suit he wore. It was confining, it was rough and it was above all a symbol of manhood.

He was now a man complete with emotions, thoughts and appearance.

His greatest fears had come true and there was nothing he could do to stop it, it was as if he were walking down a tunnel that spiraled into nothingness; a walk he couldn't stop himself from going to. 

He was walking to his doom.

So when the announcer told their audience of his presence the crowd all turned to gaze at the young handsome couple; many knowing smiles and gasps were heard with cries of appreciation as he led Anna to the dance floor.

Not long after another announcement was heard for "Miss. Wendy Moira Angela Darling" and "Mr. Christian Alan Kelley"

Peter turned from where he was standing with Anna to the top of the staircase though he wanted to look away and ignore the couple as much as he could there was something in the air that told him that Wendy was approaching and his body automatically turned to her.

It took all of his will power to run up the stairs and rip her hand away from Christian's. And there she was. His won life-sized fairy.

She looked angelic, her hair all pinned to the top of her head while pale white flowers adorned it, her gown was form fitting, baring her shoulders and showing a decent amount of cleavage. The skirt was killed and shinning against the candles lit in the room, making the cloth shimmer as she walked. Next to her stood Kelley, with a smile on his face as he looked on at her adoringly. 

"My, what a grand pair they make," the older man next to Peter said.

"Grand indeed, they say Mr. Kelley saved Miss. Darling in their horrible ordeal," the woman next to him whispered back.

"He's in trade, they say; excellent for the young man, the young lady should be very well provided for."

"Indeed," the woman agreed. "And what a handsome young lady she is!"

Wendy's bright smile took over the room and all eyes turned to her as she was guided down the grand staircase. She was indeed the belle of the ball; as all men stared at her in wonder. And when she lowered her smile in a coquettish way to show the world the missing kiss from her lips; right there before them; a seductress was born.

--------------------------------------------

It would've made Wendy a blind woman not to see that Christian looked absolutely charming in his suit. She had blushed scarlet red when she saw him, but most of all she had been embarrassed at the way he had gapped at her when she came in.

He had stuttered for words, fumbled with his hat and almost made a fool out of himself. After re-composing himself a bit he extended his hand out to her and swiftly led her to the ball.

She had made it a specific on to herself that she would not seek out Peter in the crowd, or look at him while she danced in Christian's arms... because she knew she would simply not be able to take it if she saw him dancing with Anna... or doing anything more though highly improper.

She could feel the room sizzling with energy when they entered it and now looking down at the crowd who greeted her with warm smiles she felt her heart in her throat. The announcer presented them and an enthusiastic applause was heard from the people. Christian helped her go down the stairs were they were introduced to a dozen countesses, ladies and semi-royalty of the Russian states.

All the older women marveled at her, the prospect of a new young lady in society, her and her mother were invited to a half-a-dozen tea-parties and balls that were going to take place in the Spring. Of course, she said yes to all of them all the while suffocating inside with the need to find some peace and quiet.

And then the orchestra began to play a waltz and many nearly ran to the dance floor. 

"Shall we?" Christian asked, his white-gloved hand extended in an invitation. He gentle bowed and she returned it. A dance she was quite familiar with.

Grasping her hand in his and without any reservations they were off in the dance floor.

He moved gallantly and very self-assured and though Wendy didn't dare to look at his face she was sure he was studying her every move.

"You dance wonderfully," he commented.

Rose tint rose to her cheeks. "Thank you."

She felt the room spinning as he continued to lead her in a dance, swiftly moving through the crowds and making her feel like she was dancing on air.

Only she wasn't, if there was someone who knew all too well what it was like to dance in the air it was Wendy Darling. She was most definitely not dancing in air.

Then it happened. She saw him, she saw him dancing with Anna. Holding Anna just like he had held her, swirling her just like he had swirled her, and though at the moment the last thing that she noticed was that he was indeed not looking at Anna the way he looked at her it was enough to freeze her mind and calculate all of the things that _could_ happen.

"Mr. Kelley... I feel faint," she whispered, holding her head. 

He looked at her with right panic and quickly stopped. "Come, let's get you some fresh air." Gently he led her outside making a quick stop to get their coats.

Wendy didn't know if she had really felt faint or not, all she knew is that she had her heart broken before her and it was now laying before in her in a million pieces.

Peter would never... he couldn't.... he was _her_ Peter and no one else's'. It didn't seem right for him to be with another girl.... she looked up at Christian. It also didn't seem right for her to be with another boy.

"You love him," Christian stated. No question, just an observation.

Wendy leaned against a pillar. "I doubt this is a proper conversational topic."

"You're never so formal and coy with him."

"I've known him longer... we've been through some things..." she started, closing her eyes.

"I see. You've been through some things that would never lead me to fully understand you." his words were bitter.

"Something like that." she told him softly.

"I want..." he came closer to her, his hair and eyes dark in the night but shinning like she'd never seen them shine before. "I would like to... if given the chance.... to show you. T-to show you what a real man can do for you Wendy. A provider. Someone to give you a family and a home... and all the things you deserve."

Wendy shook her head, breaking eyes contact. "Those things don't always bring you happiness, Mr. Kelley." 

"_Christian_," he emphasized.

Wendy looked down, very uncomfortable with his proximity. "_Christian_."

"Why are you so afraid of me?" he asked, coming to sit next to her.

She shifted on the bed, gathering her skirts around her so that they wouldn't be touching him. "I... I'm not afraid of you, _Christian_." But she wouldn't meet his eyes and she fidgeted.

Christian smiled as he recognized her shyness. "It's all right... I would be afraid of me too... the first time you meet me and here I am almost killing the man you love."

Wendy smiled. "Yes, well I suppose that would place a damper on the relationship."

He laughed and threw his head back, looking up at the sky.

"I once met an Indian Scout who told me of the making stars," he told her, looking at her sideways.

Wendy sat up and looked at the stars herself. "I've touched them myself... they're actually quite cool to the touch."

He grinned. "Really?"

"Yes..."

"Well, it throws the validity of my story to the air," he told her, still smiling at her. His dark eyes penetrating her gaze.

"I shall still like very much to hear it," Wendy told him, looking away from his intent gaze.

"Alright... but assure you that none of my words will ever be as pretty as you... I mean _yours_...." he caught himself entranced by her lips. Her full, luscious pink lips that were ever so-slightly pouting.

Wendy on her end watched, entranced as he leaned in, enraptured in her lips. Bile formed at the edge of her throat and she tried desperately to claw it away.

Before she knew it, he leaned in and with his own lips captured hers.

She gasped and pulled back. 

"Peter..."

His eyes clouded dark.

"Peter, no!"

Christian quickly turned to were her eyes were looking and before he could react a strong first connected to his nose.

-------------------------------------

TBC.....

A/N: I don't know why you guys all feel that I have to reassure you after every chapter that this is (YES IT IS) a Peter/Wendy fiction, a _romantic_ Peter & Wendy fiction that will soon show itself to the light. Just have patience, please. Once more, if you have questions, I answer them much better if you simply email them to me at isabelle@komodo-skin.com answering anything through fanfiction is a hassle--thanks!

Also, just so you know, I have 2 midterms/papers in by next week, so I really don't know when the next part will be out, have patience--it's not that I'm abandoning the story, it's just that I'm swamped.


	14. Remember the Handprints

**Remember the Handprints** (part 14 of '_My Brave Wendy'_) 

by Isabelle 

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me; this is just done for entertainment. Chapter disclaimer: "You Must Love Me" by Madonna

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references) 

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you. 

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan"; it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did. 

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her. 

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!! 

Appreciation: Always to my beta Rogue, who is absolutely awesome! 

-----------------------------------

"You little--"

Before Christian could insult Peter again he was roughly punched once more in the stomach.

"Peter, no!" Wendy cried in horror.

Christian, for his part, reacted. Recovering from the first two punches he cried out and ran into Peter's stomach, pulling them both on the floor.

"Christian, no!" Wendy cried.

Peter grabbed Christian's hair and pulled his head back then promptly brought his forehead to collide against the older man's. Christian cried out and grabbed Peter's neck, starting to choke him then pulled his head up and started banging it against the floor.

Wendy frantically looked on at the two guys basically fighting for her, her nerves on end she ran inside to get help.

Peter blindly reached out to Christian's face; his scratching at his eyes. Christian let go of Peter's neck, stood up and promptly kicked him in the side of his stomach. Peter groaned but saw as the next kick as coming and grabbed Christian's foot, giving it a good twist. This made Christian fall on his ass, stunned as Peter straddled him and punched him twice in the face.

"I dare say!"

Before Christian could react Peter was roughly pulled off him by two older men. 

"Stop it!" Peter heard Wendy cry. He still struggled against the hands that held him back, wanting to get in a few more punches to Christian who was himself being held back by two other men wanting to get to Peter.

"You stay away from her!" Peter screamed at him.

"She came to me, _boy_." the other snipped back. 

Peter saw red, and enraged tried to lounge for him again, his need was so strong that he broke free of the hands and promptly tried to choke Christian.

"No, Peter!" a man's voice told him, more hands grabbed him and pulled him off Christian.

Wendy watched in horror as Peter was pulled as far possible from Christian and Christian himself had to be held back. 

The Duke walked in between both of them. "Now that is enough!" he bellowed. "This is not proper behavior of a civilized society! And in front of a lady none the less!" he pointed to Wendy who ducked her head, blushing furiously.

Peter had the right to look ashamed as he glanced at the embarrassed Wendy. He visibly relaxed, his shoulders sagging. 

_Where do we go from here?  
This isn't where we intended to be_

"There will be no more of this, hear me? Not in my home!" 

Christian relaxed, rolling his shoulders and cleaning the blood from his mouth when he was let go. "I apologize, my lord Duke."

"Wendy, dear--come with me." The Duke extended his hand. She had tear marks running down her face and she was pale, still shaking from the fight.

"Wendy!" Peter cried out and for a moment Wendy looked up to meet his eyes. His were desperate, hers were sad.

"Duke Waterford!" one of the soldiers cried, one that had been holding on to Christian.

The Duke was annoyed as it was and snapped in anger to the young man. "Yes?"

"My lord... be he not Christian Kelley? _The_ Christian Kelley?"

Christian for his part smiled, a charming smile despite his bloodied face. 

"I assure you--"

"By George!" The Duke said amazed. "Half of Europe is looking for you!"

"I'm just a simple investor, my lord--"

"He is not, and I'll testify to that." Everyone turned to the man who had spoken, he was dressed in the finest of suits, a cigar in his hand a look that kills in his eyes. "His name is Christian Alan Kelley, also known as Jonathan Risco and Michael Winters; both names I am sure you are familiar with since they have been attributed to the murders of High Springs last winter. The perpetrator was a young American man who often passes as an English gentleman who is extremely fond of card playing."

As these things were said by this man Wendy was looking at Christian in awe, his eyes were also fixed on her; sadness in his eyes.

"... he is wanted for countless deaths and we received word two nights ago that he was indeed hired to hunt and dispatch Duke Waterford's daughter, Helen Waterford and all of her companions."

Helen and Rosalind gasped, grasping for each other. The Duke for his part arched his brow.

"And who are you, sir?"

The man took a puff of his cigar. "I am Nathaniel Kensington; representing British Intelligence."

Two more soldiers cam forward and cuffed Christian.

"Well sir..." The Duke addressed Christian. "What have you to say for yourself?"

He was still looking at Wendy when he said this. "All I say to my defense is that after meeting the young ladies I would place my life in order to save them."

"Of course you would, lad," Nathaniel said and motioned for the soldier's to take him away. 

"I have a room you can keep him in until we can transport him to England," the Duke told Mr. Kensington.

Nathaniel nodded and excused himself, going after the party who had taken the assassin.

"Well, we can safely say that tonight has not been un-eventful." The Duke joked lightly and many of the people around chuckled, and started motioning to go back inside the ball.

"Come, my dears," he motioned to Wendy, Anna, Helen, Joanna and Rosalind who were standing together, still in shock of missing death by a hair pin.

"I'll look after Peter," Anna told them after while, walking towards Peter.

Wendy's head snapped up and quickly grasped her forearm. "_I'll_ look after Peter." His voice was cold and deadly as she glared her down. 

Anna studied her for a moment then narrowed her eyes and walked away. 

_We had it all, you believed in me  
I believed in you_

-----------------------------

Once his true identity was out he was man-handled by the officers, they roughly threw him in a small room, with nothing but a small bed and a basin.

They laughed when he tripped and fell on the floor. 

"You were a fool to think we would not notice you," Nathaniel told him.

Christian chuckled darkly. "Took you long enough, I was beginning to think I could get away with it."

"I've been watching you Mr. Kelley. Working on assignment is one thing, of your own free will meddling with a respectable young lady is unforgivable."

Christian's eyes hardened as he looked at the man. "My intention was not to _meddle_."

"You're telling me now you love her?"

"I do. I love her. Like I said before I would die for her," he insisted, looking at the officer straight.

"I'll hold you to that promise, Mr. Kelley. I guarantee it," Nathaniel smiled and walked out, shutting the door behind him.

-------------------------------

_Where do we go from here?  
This isn't where we intended to be  
We had it all, you believed in me  
I believed in you_

Peter felt as if he were floating; he didn't know whether he should be happy or if he should be sad. Oddly, he felt both emotions; it was a very strange feeling indeed. 

It was true that every part of his body currently hurt but it was nothing he had not felt before; in fact after a good fight with pirates it felt good to be hurt --in a strange sort of way.

He turned to look as the officers took Christian away; cuffed and bound like a common thief. In another odd emotional wave he felt pity for the young man; if this young man would've been allowed to come to Neverland this would've never happened. He would've been a happy person, a happy boy—a boy _forever_. This thought for some reason made Peter shudder. It was the first time he had spent so long in this world. Soon his memories were becoming distant and adventures were becoming fairytales and the only thing that felt real was Wendy and his own love for Wendy.

He felt a warm small hand on his shoulder, it squeezed in reassurance. He needed not turn back to see who it was; he knew. He could _feel_ her presence surrounding him. Surrounding him in an act of forgiveness. 

"Peter…"

He quickly turned around and placed a single finger on her lips.

"No, Wendy."

Her eyes were wide and clear, looking at him with such clarity he hadn't seen since they had left Neverland. 

"I'm sorry, Peter… so sorry." she breathed against the pad of his finger.

His eyes clouded slightly as he looked down at her. There she was, so majestic. The one thing in this world that had led the boy of legends to change; she had trapped him like a fairy on a flame and he felt as if he were burning. Feelings and emotions he couldn't comprehend cursed through his veins. He was alive and dying all at once and for once in his long life did he feel truly alive.

"Sorry for what?" he asked, his voice was rather husky and thick--he had not counted on that.

She blinked slowly, as if shameful. "For... the other day... I was childish." she looked down, her eyes resting on his bruised hands. "Let me tend to you."

When she took his larger hand in hers he simply swallowed and nodded.

"Peter?" she asked, enveloping his hand on both of hers. 

"Yes, Wendy?"

"Can it ever be the same? Can we ever go back to the way we were?" she asked, still a whiff of a whisper--her eyes were wide and scared.

He simply looked at her and told her to lead the way.

_Certainties disappear  
What do we do for our dream to survive?  
How do we keep all our passions alive,  
As we used to do?_

---------------------------------------

Wendy sat Peter on her bed and ever so softly walked to the toiletries to retrieve any antiseptics. She found there some rubbing alcohol, gauze, cotton, and peroxide water.

Peter watched as she came back, her arms full of things, little hairs from her fancy hair-do falling delicately on her face, making shadows that played hide and go-seek over her features. She placed them on the bed, and placed a large pillow on the floor so she could adequately sit down without ruining her beautiful gown.

The silk sat like a pool of glistening silver-blue around his feet. She took his hand gentle in hers and padded the cuts with alcohol, blowing on it softly when it stung; letting her cool air refresh his skin. 

"You probably have a bruised rib..." her face blushed furious scarlet and she couldn't meet his eyes. "You'll have to... r-remove your shirt."

Peter nodded, not sensing her awkwardness and with a grimace took off his jacket and shirt leaving him shirtless for her to tend. With trembling fingers she reached out to feel his ribs.

"Where does it hurt?" she asked.

He was looking down at her bent head, her eyes trying to concentrate and form a type of detachment. 

Peter placed the tip of his index finger over his heart. "Here."

Her eyes went wide as she stared at the spot Peter had pointed to, her bottom lip trembled slightly. 

"Needs a thimble," he murmured; the heat of her escaping breath was warming his chest and sent Goosebumps all over his arms.

"Peter..." her voice was uncertain as she slowly met his gaze. His eyes had turned dark green, as if he clouded the entire room.

"Right... this rib," he pointed to his side which was sending steady bursts of pain every time he breathed. 

She was quiet, staring still at the spot in his heart... it was so close and yet so far away. 

_Deep in my heart I'm concealing  
Things that I'm longing to say_

Without warning she leaned in and kissed it. Kissed the skin right over his heart. Peter drew a deep breath and watched as she pulled back, his entire body singing on the tiny spot where her lips had touched. 

"I love you, Peter Pan." she whispered against his chest. 

She met his eyes and they danced together for a while. It was better than flying, Peter decided, it was euphoric. Without warning it made him float in the air. He reached down and took her hand, pulling her into his arms.

"Peter you're hurt!" she cried.

"I feel like I could take on Hook and all of his fleet!" there was a childish ring to his voice; a lovely sing that he had not heard before.

Wendy laughed, her voice bathing him in sweetness; her voice was music to the earth, made it flourish with flowers and fruits.

_Scared to confess what I'm feeling  
Frightened you'll slip away_

"You're better now?" she asked, leaning into his embrace and enjoying the feeling of the air under her toes.

"I still hurt a little... but you'll fix me, wont you Wendy?" his smile was radiant; she had not seen it on him in such a long time it hurt her to think of all the awful things that had happened in the past few days.

"Come, your eyes is still bleeding as is your lip," she reminded him, gently touching the cut on his brow.

Slowly he glazed down to the floor and he let her fuss over him until he was free of blood and all bandaged up.

"You didn't have to hit him, Peter. I would've never--"

"I couldn't help myself. I've never felt such rage," he fumed, looking own at the floor as if his anger and jealousy had taken over him again.

"It's more jealousy than anything else," she reminded him, smiling as she took the bandages to their cabinet.

Peter looked up at her, his eyes curious as she buttoned up his shirt. "What is jealousy?"

Wendy came back, still smiling at him. "It's that feeling you get towards someone when you feel they have something that you long for or belongs to you."

"Yes," Peter mussed, he was nodding. "You belong to me now, Wendy."

Wendy laughed. "Do I?"

"Yes! You are mine as I am yours." he stated quite proudly.

Her smile deepened and she reached out to take his hand. "It's highly improper for you to say such things, Peter. Remember to keep it between us two, alright?"

"If you wish it," he told her quite simply. 

_You must love me  
You must love me_

-------------------------------------------

"Someone wants to see you," one of the soldiers who was holding him in the small room told him as he opened the door.

Christian quickly stood from his place on the floor. 

"Wendy!" he cried out when he saw her. She was still in her party gown but her hair was now down, making her look even more angelical than before.

"Hello Mr. Kelley," she greeted, a bit coldly. "Duke Waterford insisted that I not see you, he said you would try to kill me in the opportune moment and that my life was in danger." she walked closer, her features serious. "Am I in danger?"

Christian stared at her, tall and proud in her convictions.

"I could never hurt you, Wendy." he responded signaling with his hands _ surrender_. 

"Good," she stated. "The we can converse like civilized acquaintances."

"I'd hardly call us acquaintances," he insisted. 

"That's all we can never be, Mr. Kelley." her eyes were still cold and weary. "_Friends_ don't lie to each other. At least not in England."

He chuckled at her dark humor. "That they don't." he sat down on the bed. "The acquaintances we shall be."

She nodded and started pacing the small room. He watched her, watched how her face darkened with each step she took.

"You can sit down, you know--"

"Who are you?" she snapped.

He took a deep breath and leaned back against the wall. "I'm complicated."

She stared at him for a moment, leaning casually. "That's all you're going to say? _You're complicated?_ They're going to guillotine you!"

"Anyone would think you to care, Miss. Darling," his smile was a ghost of a smirk.

"Mr. Kelley... don't you care for your life? Don't you want to live?" she asked, rather desperately.

"Live for what exactly, my dear?" he demanded, his face no longer placid but shinning with frustration.

"For life! To live for life itself it is the greatest wonder of them all."

"I'm not in search for wonders of life, I hate to disappoint you," he sneered, standing up and looking out the bared window. 

"No..." her voiced trembled lightly. "You're in search of young girls to murder."

He turned to her sharply. "Yes... I desperately needed the recognition; I desperately needed to be admired, respected... I needed to be the best. I _ needed_ it."

She was shaking an he could tell.

"Have I frightened you, Miss. Darling?" he came closer to her. "It's what you wanted, no? You wanted to know what monster hide behind the man? We'll, you got him. I'm a killer. I've been a killer since I was fifteen--your age. At first it was for food and now it's for survival. I thought men like me didn't change. I thought us to be constant and unchanging... I thought us to be... incapable of love." his eyes turned to her, black fire. "Then you came in, Came into my life."

He grabbed the pitcher of water and threw it against the wall, destroying it. Wendy yelped and backed up.

"What have you done to me?" he was breathing hard. "You torment me, I can see your eyes curing me into doing goodness and I can't stop myself!" he threw himself at her feet, kneeling before her. His eyes were wide and desperate as hers were frightened. "I love you, Wendy. I love you. I have wanted so much to be the light in your eyes; like Peter is. I wanted to be Peter, I wanted to own your emotions and your effects and I wanted all that you were willing to give to him. I _want_ it. For it I'd be willing to change all that I am, all that I know... I would change."

He grasped at her skirts and Wendy pulled back, she was still frightened. "I'm sorry." she whispered.

"You're sorry?" he asked, his voice hollow.

"I'm sorry I made you feel such... emotions. It was not my intention and I beg for your forgiveness and in turn ask that you forget these passions... and be a better man for your own good."

He shook his head, a small smile on his lips. "I have no anchor on my own, Wendy."

"Yet I can't be yours," she told him.

He sagged down, his eyes leaving hers and he turned them to the floor. 

"I love Peter and he loves me back. I have a tendency, it seems, to make men change." she chuckled, darkly.

"And he was there first," Christian said, almost hollowly.

"Where first?" she asked, confused.

"There. In your heart. He's set up house."

"He has." she moved to the door. "I'm sorry you love me, Christian. But the truth is... the truth is that you would never make me happy."

Without another look back she opened the door and left. 

_Why are you at my side?  
How can I be any use to you now?  
Give me a chance and I'll let you see how  
Nothing has changed_

---------------------------------------

TBC....

A/N: I think it's funny that I've made Wendy/Christian 'shippers out there, but really this is a W/P fiction as you can well tell ;) I'm sorry once more this took so long and the next one might take just as long as I'm swamped with school, work and RL but hopefully they'll steadily come out. 

Once more, remember that this is NOT the beta'd version of the fiction, to read it you have to go to my archive and in a few days this chapter will be up. 


	15. By the Sword

**By the Sword** (part 15 of '_My Brave Wendy'_) 

by Isabelle 

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me; this is just done for entertainment. Chapter disclaimer: "You Must Love Me" by Madonna

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references) 

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you. 

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan"; it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did. 

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her. 

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!! 

Appreciation: Always to my beta Rogue, who is absolutely awesome! 

----------------------------

The anyone who would dare to intrude upon his solace was beyond acceptable. He was a Prince. A Prince who would soon rule the world as they knew it; he was to be their future.

Nothing would be greater than himself once all these petty struggles were over. The world was just at the horizon.

"Your Majesty, I apologize for the intrusion," his man servant stated behind him and he could almost visualize the man cowering.

In the dark draped room Prince Adrien blew out the smoke from his cigar. He placed down the large leather bound journal he was studying. "What is it?" he growled.

"A message, milord... from Zurich."

This got his attention and he quickly motioned for the telegram to be given to him. 

"Out with you," he ordered once the had the small envelope in his hand. Once he heard the large door shut behind him he hastily tore the envelope open and read it's contents.

His jaw twitched at the news; he had to sit back and take deep breaths.

He was running out of patience and he was running out of time. This entire matter had been blown out of proportion and it was increasingly becoming larger than it should be.

He stood up and walked out of his private study into the hall and down to his secretary's desk.

"Miss Petrovsky?"

The perk young woman looked up at him, her face serious and stoic.

"Have Mr. Valance come to my office," he motioned to the greeting area. The place were he met for business and never pleasure.

He entered his office and walked to his desk, settling himself down on the large wine leather chair. Before he finished turning his chair to face the large window behind it the door was opened and Miss Petrovsky informed him that the gentleman was waiting.

"Let him in. We shall not be disturbed."

Seconds later he felt the man enter the room and the door shut behind him.

"Your majesty," he greeted.

"Jackal." Prince Adrien didn't even turn to look at him. "You've never failed me in the past... there is a certain person I need you to take care of for me... I should warn you; he's no civilian."

"He can be a king himself but if your majesty wishes him dead I will make sure of it," Jacked answered, eying the Prince carefully.

"Let yourself be killed rather than failing me, Jackal."

"Always, majesty."

-----------------------------------------

When Wendy found Peter again he was sleeping in his bed. She felt a blush creep to her face at the though of being in the same room as him while he slept... but then she though back to all those times he had been in her own bedroom.

But things were different now, weren't they? They were no longer innocent children who laughed and fought pirates. So much had changed in such a little amount of time that she felt time was slipping right out of her hands like the sand on a sunny beach.

Nothing gold can stay.

"Wendy?"

His sleepy voice carried over to where she was standing in the other side of the room.

"I was making sure you were alright, Peter... I'll go--"

"No, stay with me." he pleaded.

She could see his golden head peeping at her from underneath the blue covers. A large lump formed at her throat and she felt like she couldn't breathe.

"I can read you a story, if you'd like," she walked to the small bookshelf pointedly avoiding his gaze as she skimmed the titles. She settled her thin fingers on an older volume that brought a smile to her lips.

"That one, read that one." he told her.

She turned to look at him, a bit surprised and tilted her head slightly. "Why?"

His eyes were bright in the night light but she could still see the teasing outline of his smirking lips. "It made you smile."

She gave him a shy smile. "It's... it-it's Jane Austen."

"What is Jane Austen?" he wondered, sitting up, the thick blue quilt falling to his lap and revealing his glistening bare chest.

Wendy blushed scarlet and turned back to the book.

"It's... well, _I'm_ not supposed to read it. It's quite controversial."

"What is it about?" he asked.

"This one is _Pride and Prejudice_." she picked it off the shelf. "It's about... love."

"Read it." he demanded.

She let out an embarrassed laugh. "I don't dare, Peter!"

"Is it naughty?" there was a tease to his voice and she was quite sure he still did not understand how to joke in that manner. 

Wendy turned to him. "I don't know... I guess we'll never know if we never find out."

With that she took a seat at the edge of his bed and he leaned back on the thick pillows to watch her. She opened the book and cleared her throat.

"_It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife._" She began and though she could tell as she continued to read that Peter wanted to ask one hundred and one questions she ignored them and continued on with the story.

It was about four hours later when she saw that Peter had been nodding off to sleep that she stopped, placed the book down and stood to leave.

"Don't leave, Wendy..." he slurred with sleep.

"Get some sleep, Peter. You need to heal." she said, looking back at him from the door.

She could see him in the soft glow of the room, his features golden with the taming of the fire. 

"I'm sorry, Wendy..."

Her brows furrowed and she came closer to him. "Why are you sorry?"

"Because... because I can't be a _proper_ husband for you." his once bright eyes were dark and shimmering with unshed tears.

She sighed and sat down next to him. "Peter--"

Her voice was cut off as gunshots were heard downstairs, shouts and yells carried themselves to were they were at.

Peter jumped up from the bed as did Wendy, both looking at the door that stood between them and the mess outside. 

He ran to where his sword and knife were at, grabbing his battle belt and looping it around himself. "C'mon!" he shouted at her.

Wendy stood in shock, trembling as she heard the screams. "They've found us, Peter!"

He turned to look at her, her eyes were wide and frightened, her lips pale.

"Wendy!" he shook her shoulders. At seeing her frightened vulnerability he did something he had never done before. Pulling her to himself he held her against his chest, cradling her head like a small child.

"It's alright, Wendy... I'm here now."

He held her until she stopped shivering and shaking and pulled slightly back and looked at her determinately. "Listen to me, Wendy. I need you to be brave, alright?"

She blinked and nodded at him. "Yes, Peter... I'll try to be brave."

He smiled softly and touched her porcelain-like cheek. "Yes... be brave. _ My_ brave Wendy." Taking her hand he dashed to the door. "Here," he handed her his small knife. "Anyone attacks you, you know what do to."

-----------------------------------

He had been simply sitting in his bed, surrounded by his misery and regrets when he heard them break in. He jumped off the cot and ran to the door that kept him safe, for the meantime, from the outsiders. 

"What's happening?" he cried to the guards outside.

One of the men turned and nearly growled at him.

"Shut the fuck up, you piece of shit," the guard told him and hit the door with his riffle barrel.

Christian glared at him and cried out. "Let me out! There's a war out there can't you hear it?"

From upstairs they heard a woman's cry of horror and more gun shots being fired. All turned towards the noise. 

"Listen..." one of the other guards said, holding his riffle into position as they looked towards the stairs that led to the upper floor of the house.

"We stay here like Mr. Kensington told us to, we don't move!" the guard with rank told the other two.

There was more screaming and gunshots that made all four of them jump in surprise.

"Wendy," Christian whispered in horror. He knew who these men were and he knew all too well who they came for. "Wendy!" he cried, banging on the door.

"Be quiet!"

"Wendy!" he screamed again. "Let me out! I've got to save her!"

As the guard was walking to make him be quiet once more the door that let down to the made-shift cell was blown open.

Before they could react something rolled to the floor, Christian stared at the spot in the floor a second before he threw himself at the other side of the room to shield himself from the exploding dynamite.

He heard the guards cry out in pain and he cringed, then quickly he got up, taking advantage of the smoke covering the room. He crept to where the guards lay dead or dying and took their guns, riffles and swords. He stood and lay flat against the wall waiting for the incoming party.

As suspected two men dressed in military uniforms came in to check for survivors. They passed by him to the guards dead on the floor which gave him a clear view of their back.

Without hesitation he fired at one of the them.

One cried out and fell on the floor, the other turned with his gun, ready to attack. Christian was faster and stronger as he grabbed the man's gun and twisted his arm behind him, then plunging the knife he had in the man's back.

The soldier cried out as he sunk to the floor.

Christian pulled out the blade, picked up what weapons he could and ran upstairs.

---------------------------------------

Upstairs Wendy and Peter were basically fighting for survival. Mostly he fought and hid her behind a pillar or a room but often times get would be attack while he was trying to desperately save his own neck as the fighting-pirate in Wendy would come out, brandishing the sword as well as she has last done.

"Wendy, watch out!" Peter cried as he deftly knocked another solider out. 

Wendy ducked with his warning and turned to swing her sword around. The man cried out and she jumped back, gasping at what she had done. 

Before she could bend down to check on the man Peter grabbed her by elbow sharply. "C'mon!" he cried. She risked one last glance at the man in the floor, the man she mortally wounded and then ran with Peter.

"Look!" he pointed out to a top floor. Wendy's head turned to were he was pointing. Joanna, Anna, Helen and Rosalind were being chased by two men who intended to capture them.

"Peter, we must help them!" Wendy cried, leaping forward. Peter followed her up the stairs to were the screaming girls were running. As they reached the top floor Rosalind basically ran into Wendy's arms, sobbing and trembling with fright.

"You're safe now, Rosalind," Wendy told her and watched as Peter attacked full frontal the two men who had been chasing the girls. 

Anna screamed when one of them cut Peter across the chest but Peter didn't even flinch as he took the same knife that had been used to hurt him and gutted the man in one swift move.

Helen cried out when this happen, holding on to Anna and burying her head in the older girl's shoulder.

More gunshots were heard downstairs and the girls watched as the Duke's men fought the oncoming invaders; many bodies now decorated the once immaculate floors and blood ran like a river down the corridors.

"So much death," Helen whimpered. Then her eyes went wide in realization. "Father," she whispered.

Wrenching herself from Anna's arms she ran down the corridor.

"Father!" she screamed, running down the stairs.

"Helen, no!" Wendy cried after her. She grabbed her sword and went after her.

"Wendy!" Joanna gasped, then turned to Peter who had just killed the second soldier. "Peter!"

Peter turned sharply to her, still in fighting mode. 

Joanna pointed at the running girls. "Look!"

Peter watched in horror as Helen got through the middle of the fighting men with much luck and disappeared into on of the rooms, but Wendy was grabbed from behind by one of the soldiers who managed to loose Helen.

"Wendy," he whispered.

------------------------------------

She had really been only trying to catch up with Helen to prevent her from being killed and somehow she had been the perfect distraction for her to get away and for herself to get caught.

"Let me go!" she cried, wriggling against the man who held her.

"I've got one!" the soldier told one of his mates.

Another soldier came up, chuckling and eyeing Wendy. "She's no child."

Wendy flushed scarlet and struggled some more. "How dare you!"

"I dare just fine," the man smiled, coming closer to her and extending his hand dangerously close to her still-maturing breasts. 

Her eyes went wide and she started whimpering. She didn't know anything about any man touching her body but she knew as much as not to let them because to let them was a disgrace.

"So I." A voice said behind the solider.

A gunshot was heard that made Wendy scream and as the soldier that was about to touch her collapsed in the floor, Christian stood before her.

She let out a sigh of relief.

"Stay back!" the man holding told Christian. "Or I'll blow her brains out!"

Christian considered the man then shrugged. "Go ahead."

It all went in a sort of dream to Wendy. 

She felt Christian reach out and suddenly grab her hand, wrenching her from the man's grasps then the solider being shot... from behind.

She landed curled up against Christian's strong and wide chest, his hand cradling her trembling head.

"You're safe, Wendy." he told her.

Slowly she disentangled herself from his arms, turning to see what had happened and there was Peter standing over the soldier with his bloody sword on his hand.

"Thank you," Peter told Christian.

Wendy willingly walked to Peter's arms --letting herself be wrapped in his embrace.

Christian nodded and looked away uncomfortable. "We need to get you to safety."

"Helen!" Wendy suddenly realized. She left Peter to go into the room were Helen had run to.

"Wendy, wait!" Christian cried after her.

A hand grasped his forearm. "She's fine."

He turned to look at a neutral Peter. Christian took one look at the direction Wendy went then sighed and let go.

"There's no soldier's there..." Peter pointed to the dead men in the floor. "Almost all are de--"

"Duck!" Christian cried. 

On instinct Peter fell to the floor but it was too late.

A man who was neither a soldier nor a royal guard stood there with a very advanced riffle in his hand and shading glasses in his eyes. He winked at Christian as he realized just who he was.

"Jackal," Christian whispered just as the man shot him.

Peter watched with wide eyes as Christian fell before him, he quickly grabbed the riffle Christian had dropped and turned on his back and fired at the man.

Jackal had really done the mistake of his career. He had concentrated too much on his target that he failed to think if anyone else might be dangerous. After all, killers never socialized with other killers.

So there it was. On the floor of Duke Waterford's summer house in the highlands of Switzerland that so many men died that day.

Moments after the Jackal had fallen the Duke came out with Helen and Wendy at either side he congratulated Peter with much enthusiasm for saving the girls once more.

Peter watched as Wendy gasped when she saw Christian's fallen body.

"No!" she cried and sunk next to him. 

His legs were still twitching as the last wisps of life were slowly drained from him. He cradled the dying man's head on his lap and held on to his hand. The closed eyes slowly opened and he smiled at her.

"You're an angel, are you not?" he whispered, hoarsely.

A tear left Wendy's eyes and rand down to land on his face which only made him smile more.

"You are... _and the angels shall weep for him_." he said, softly.

"You're going to be alright, darling," she said holding his hand ever tighter even as his grip failed.

Christian blinked once more. "So will you."

Then taking one last breath his body convulsed and went limp.

"Oh god!" Helen cried, holding on to her father who shielded her from the dead young man.

Peter slowly came behind Wendy, wrapped his arms around had and pulled her away.

"May he find peace," the Duke said.

----------------------------------------

TBC....

A/N: I am so very sorry this chapter took so long, I had midterm time at school and I really didn't have time to write. I am now on Spring break and I'm hoping to get 1 or 2 more chapter done this week before classes start. In reality this story only has 3 more chapter to go so I'm thinking I will finishing it before the end of March :) Thank you all and please done forget to leave feedback!


	16. Bravery is Just a Word

**Bravery is Just a Word** (part 16 of _My Brave Wendy_)

by Isabelle

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me; this is just done for entertainment. Chapter disclaimer: lyric credit is placed under the lyric.

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references) 

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you. 

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan"; it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did. 

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her. 

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!! 

Appreciation: Always to my beta Rogue, who is absolutely awesome! 

----------------------------------

_Cause nothing' lasts forever  
And we both know hearts can change  
And it's hard to hold a candle  
In the cold November rain_

November Rain, _Guns -n- Roses_

The winds did nothing to take away the beauty of the magnificent ship sailing through the waves, cutting them in half and parting them like some old Biblical tale of faith and survival.

Tall and grand, proud and commanding the ship toward over all. A man's creation in god's pond were what mattered was the destiny not the voyage.

_The Splendor_ was the queen of these waters. She was over sixty feet above the water, paint as shiny as if coated yesterday, crew as diligent as if just hired.

Wendy stood in the upper deck, letting the wind blow through her hair her smile relishing the last of the rays before the sun would set. She inhaled the strong ocean air and exhaled softly, delighting in it's crisp coldness.

"Wendy! We've missed you for tea," a soft female voice came up behind her.

Wendy smiled and turned back towards the voice. "I really was no up for tea, Joanna."

Joanna shrugged and joined Wendy overlooking the ocean. "Neither was I but I was basically dragged by the girls who squealed when they saw all the young gentleman that came calling on us, asking for us to tell them about our adventures. Imagine that!_ Us_ telling them adventures!"

The girls chuckled.

"Seems rightly improper," Joanna continued.

Wendy smiled, contently and looked out to the dying sun. "What are we to do now, Joanna?"

Joanna smirked at her. "Well... we could go to American. To the _Wild West_... find us a fine horse," she spoke in a western accent. "... and a _fine_ man with a ranch out in Kansas."

The girls dissolved in giggles.

"That sounds wonderful!" Wendy cried. "A woman on her own looking for adventure."

"Well it'll sound wonderful to me since it's quite clear that _you_ wont be alone," Joanna motioned to a finely dressed man speaking to Helen's father.

Wendy turned to look at whom she was indicating and blushed, smiling. 

"Yes... Peter." she said, looking at him wistfully.

He looked quite differently than how she saw him when she had very first met him. No longer was he adorned with leaves but with a fine suit, no longer was his hair wild but it was loosely combed in the proper fashion. His shoulders were much broader belonging to a man but his eyes still held that mischief that would last for a thousand years.

"I'm quit happy for you, Wendy," Joanna commented to her as she saw Wendy get lost in the sight of Peter. "I'm sure he will make a fine husband."

Wendy turned to her startled. "I... I feel so young to be married. As if my childhood all but ended yesterday."

Joanna smiled. "Yes, that's how you know it is the best."

"Do you?" Wendy laughed.

"Besides, you already know he's hopelessly devoted to you."

Wendy yelped at her expressive words. "Joanna!" her face was turning red.

"I know, I should refine myself now that we are in proper society... I suppose the adventure is truly over, no?" Joanna sighed and looked on to the now dark red sky.

"It was a grand adventure, though." Wendy commented, smiling over at Peter who had now turned to walk towards her.

"Speaking of adventures?" He asked, standing now behind them.

Joanna smiled and nodded to Wendy. "Good evening, I will retire to prepare myself for the ball tonight."

Peter and Wendy waited until the younger girl had left then turned to each other.

"How are you feeling?" Wendy asked him, and motioned that they should begin to "stroll" through the deck in an effort to appear properly civilized.

He followed her lead and extended his hand. She took it. "Very well. How are you this evening?"

She looked at him from the corner of her eyes and saw him smirking. This was a game for him, just like the _mother and father_ game had been.

"I am doing just fine, Mr. Pan. Thank you for your inquiry." she told him, calmly. They walked in silence for a while, comfortable silence that left them simply wanting to be closer, feeling each other's warmth even in their linked arms. "Have you ever heard of the United States?"

"Land of adventure?" he asked with a slight tease to his voice.

Wendy smiled back at him. "Sounds like a wonderful place, Peter."

"It does," he agree but made no more mention of it. She huffed for a bit then smiled brightly. "I'll propose to mother and father to let us go!"

He gave her an amused look. "Let us go? By ourselves?"

She stopped and looked at him, her cheeks flushed and her eyes narrowing. "Don't tell me you're going to turn all prim and proper on me Peter Pan."

He turned towards her and placed his hands on her shoulders. Taking a deep breath he gave her a patient look. "Wendy..."

"You are, aren't you?" she snapped. "Turning all prim and proper on me!"

She would've expected him to get offended, to get agitated to do _something_.... but nothing happened he simply continued to smile. 

"You're simply amazing Wendy Moira Angela Darling." he said after a while.

And really, what woman could stand to continue being upset when a handsome man, that you happen to be in love with, tell you such words?

"Oh Peter..." she sighed happily leaning into him. 

The would've kissed but an elderly couple walked by them giving them disapproving looks.

"We better get you inside, it's getting colder out here..." he took her elbow gently, his face still scarlet. 

"Yes... I' better go in and prepare for the third ball now in our honor." she smiled and started to walk away.

"Wendy?" he asked, his voice timid.

She stopped, heart pounding and looked at him. 

He bowed, just like he had bowed the first time they met. The ever gentleman. "May I escort you to the ball?"

She sighed and smiled. "Yes. Yes you may Mr. Pan."

--------------------------------

It was as if the entire world had become silent in a mere second.

The entire table of waiting gentlemen were quiet, poised and apprehensive. All eyes were on their leader; the man they were willing to risk family name and normality for.

Prince Adrien.

The Prince held the paper that had come to him in his hands, gently and neutral.

"I can have my men go in and take them. Covert operation--" one of the men next to the prince started.

"No," the Prince cut him off.

The room was still silent as a grave; breaths held and some heads bowed.

"What have we to worry about? Both Mr. Kelley and Jackal are gone and no one is aware of our plan... war is a moment's breath away and soon we will be the ruling government of the world."

Many nodded at the Prince's words.

"I will waste no more time or men in this pitiful case; we shall move on to bigger things."

And it was set.

--------------------------------

"I'm all flushed, darling," Mrs. Darling hissed, starring at herself in the mirror. Mr. Darling came up behind her and placed two gentle hands on either side of her shoulders. 

"Yes you are," he smiled and kissed her cheek. "But I think you're simply stunning when you flush."

Mrs. Darling yelped and turned to him, playfully swatting his arm. "George!"

"Mother, father!"

You male voices called for them.

"They're here!"

Mr. and Mrs. Darling looked at each other, brimming with as much excitement as their boys... but with a strong wave of worry.

It had been two months since Wendy, Peter and the girls had been found and it had taken them that long to battle against the winter and the war to find their way back to London. The firs thoughts that went through the young parents was worry for their daughter's state. The next was her relationship to Peter Pan; the young man who has undoubtedly saved their daughter (just like he said he would). 

Mrs. Darling took a deep breath accurately remembering the conversation she had with him before he left to find Wendy. She had been right when she had told the young man that her daughter kept all her hopes on him coming back. What she was afraid of now was if he would stay and be the man her daughter needed him to be.

"Come, Mary," Mr. Darling pressed her, extending his hand.

She looked up at him and smiled. "George," she took his hand. "Remember you were once in love too."

He had a dear-caught in headlights look on his face as she stood and walked pass him with a knowing smile. 

"In lov... who said anything about anyone being in love?"

But Mrs. Darling had already left the room.

"Dear?" no answer.

"Mary?"

He finally grumbled and went down the stairs.

----------------------------------

"I'm quite nervous, Peter." Wendy confessed to him. He was sitting across from her fidgeting with his gloves and his top hat.

"So am I..." he nodded, fixing his hat once more.

Wendy looked at him and smiled. Leaning forward she fixed his hat. "There... don't touch it anymore."

Peter nodded, his lips still pale and slightly trembling. When the coach stopped their eyes met and it was Wendy who first nodded. "Come along, Peter..."

As the driver opened the side door to reveal the home she had grown up in excitement rather than nervousness filled her and she wanted to run to her mother's arms and kiss her brother's cheeks.

"I'm home!" she whispered excitedly and gave Peter a brilliant smile that took his breath away. 

"Wendy!"

The front door was opened and out filled half a dozen boys, rushing to welcome their sister. 

"Boys!" 

Wendy would've jumped out of the carriage if Peter hadn't rushed out and helped her down himself. The moment her feet had touched the floor she rushed forward to greet her brother who were filling all around her, most as tall as she or taller themselves all with happy smiles in their faces and greetings in their lips.

Peter smiled at the scene, she was the flower amongst them; poised and lovely. 

".... and we were so worried, weren't we, Michael?"

"... you must tell us plenty of stories, Wendy!"

"... you wont ever have to go away again, will you?"

"... boys, really! Let me settle before I answer questions!"

"Oh Wendy!" Mrs. Darling said when she opened the door.

Wendy looked up to see her mother and a shone with exhilaration. "Mother!" she cried and disentangled herself from her brother's arms and ran to meet her mother.

They embraced and Mrs. Darling ended up sobbing with joy. "Oh my darling!" she kissed her daughter's face over and over. When Mr. Darling came out with a strange expression on his face he was equally eager to see his daughter and though he shed no actual tears his eyes shone with both relief and love for his eldest and only daughter.

"Father, Mother...." she stood back, with a silly smile plastered on her face. "...you do remember Peter, no?"

Peter, who for his part had been entertaining the boys with tales of the land of Switzerland and being mercilessly teased about his "grown up" attired turned when he heard Wendy say his name.

Mrs. Darling's eyes went wide and she quickly sported a wide smile, pleased to see the young man. "Peter, dear..." she extended her hand, graciously.

Peter went up the steps and formally took her hand and bowed. "Mrs. Darling." he murmured.

Mr. Darling for his part was stiff as he stood next to his daughter, wincing at the dreamy expression in Wendy's eyes. 

"George, darling... you remember Mr. Pan, no?" Mrs. Darling gave him a warning look. 

George Darling cleared his throat and nodded. "Yes of course... Peter." he shook Peter's hand and bowed back to him.

Wendy stepped in. "Shall we go inside?" she suggested. 

Mr. Darling nearly jumped. "Yes! Of course!" His eyes didn't fail to narrow when Peter extended his hand and helped Wendy up the final steps.

----------------------------------

After surviving many attacks from Aunt Marge and piercing glares from her father Wendy was finally ready to retire.

She kissed her mother goodnight and made sure her younger brothers were all in bed before turning to find Peter right behind her, with a shy smile on his face.

"Peter!" she gasped. "You startled me."

"I did?" he teased, a crooked smile on his face.

Wendy blushed and pushed passed him. 

"You should get to bed, mother has fixed the guestroom for you to rest in," Wendy continued, entering her own bedroom. "... at least until we can get you... _situated_."

"Duke Waterford spoke to me while on the ship," Peter started and walked to her window, looking out into the night. "He proposed I join him as his very special ward... take me through school and introduce me to society."

Wendy turned from his steady gaze and meddled with her jewelry box. "That is a wonderful prospect, Peter."

"I would start school in the fall... a school in a place called Wales. There's a private boy's school there," he looked down to his fingers.

She sat on her bed, letting her skirts flow around her as she looked on at him, waiting for him to share his decision with her.

"I've decided... that I can no longer be a boy... time has finally caught up with me," he swallowed and looked away from her clear blue eyes. "But I have to go back."

"Back?" Wendy stood, outraged.

"To Neverland," Peter told her, opening her window as he did.

It was like the wind was slowly being drained from her, but in five seconds' time.

"But why?" Wendy urged. "To go back? To go back and never remember? To never come back?"

"Yes," Peter turned to her and took her hands in his hands. "Yes, I will come back."

"But how do you know?" Wendy wrenched her hands from him. "How can you be sure? You were quick to forget last time... so quick, Peter!"

"I have to set things right there before I can come here... indefinitely!" Wendy cried, desperately, tears now swimming in her eyes.

"Wendy," he murmured and placed his larger hand cheek, brushing away her now falling tears. "I will come back to you... please hold on to that."

He kissed her cheek then pulled back when he heard Tink making sick noises by the window. The fairy flew over him and sprinkled him with her dust.

Wendy watched as Peter as levitated to the air and smiled at him. "How long will I have to wait?"

He smiled, shedding his jacket, tie, shoes and socks; handing them to her. "Not long. I promise."

She nodded and watched him fly off never turning for a final goodbye.

--------------------------------

TBC....

A/N: There is only one final chapter to go for this series; I want to thank all those who keep reviewing, I really appreciate it. I'm hoping that the final chapter will be completed this weekend but it's not a promise since I have a midterm on Tue that I really need to do well in.


	17. Window Watching

**Window Watching **(part 17 of My Brave Wendy) 

by Isabelle 

Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me; this is just done for entertainment. Chapter disclaimer: lyric credit is placed under the lyric. 

Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references) 

Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com 

Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you. 

Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan"; it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did. 

Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her. 

Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!! 

Appreciation: Always to my beta Rogue, who is absolutely awesome! 

------------------------------------------

When time and space have no equilibrium that's when she would be waiting; in that place between sleep and awake. Because it had been 4 years and he had no returned.

No shining star, no smoke Indian-signals. Nothing. Nothing at all. All was lost and hope was bleak. But she no longer hoped. She had long ago accepted that he would not be coming back. That his parting words where an easy let down to what life might bring and what life would do without.

Her fairy boy was a shadow of her dreams and a hero of her childhood nights. Though she had no longer been a child when he had last felt his skin it would sooner be easier to plan as if it were a childish prank than a thought effortlessly forgotten.

She only hopped that wherever he was, and however long he lived he would remember her face. He could soon forget her name and her address... but she prayed he'd not forget her face. Because for all the days she lived without him she would never forget his face, or his smile or the warmth his hand gave to hers.

So, there her dreams went to lie and die.

In a place called Neverland, with a boy whom she vaguely knew.

Peter Pan. He that made her realize she wanted to live. He that made her want to see the sun each day and enjoy it's giving rays.

She would often imagine him playing with the stars and racing with the flocks of birds. An endless mirth of fun and games where bittersweet memories had no place and all was laugh and sports.

There he would be, there he would reside... her golden boy. Mischief would rule his existence and only the moment where he was about to dream would he remember an angelic face of a girl whose name he did not know and whose eyes loved him with all of her soul.

But she now knew that he had forgotten. He had forget about her and about his promise and above all...

he had forgotten how to be a man.

The war was not soon to seize and soon it brought much more devastation than the short days she had seen it with her now close friends and her family.

Helen, Rosalind and Joanna were her closest companions and would often spend as much time together as they could. She found it relieving to talk of fine dresses than tell pirate stories all of the time to her younger brothers. It was the day she caught herself looking forward to her trip to the dress shops that she realized that there was no part of her that was a child anymore.

Children do not see what she had seen in her life and they do not feel the pains she would feel deep in her soul like she did... once in a while.

Her dearest friends would no longer ask her about Peter neither would her family. They preferred to keep his name hidden in shadows like an awful secret they all knew but would never discuss.

She decided that she enjoyed this arrangement. To speak of him without anyone other than her heart was still too fresh and painful to bear.

Maybe when she was older and had children of her own she would tell them the tales of her youth and how she had been saved by he that was the hero of all children; the deifier of the rules of nature and God. 

_Her_ Peter Pan.

Now it had been so long since she had spoken of Peter than she begun to wonder if her years spent under his presence had been a dream; a story adapted into her life as a child.

-------------------

On the first Monday of the month of October, when the chilly breeze tended to squirm itself through her window though it was now locked and barred there was a knock in the Darling house.

It was a messenger from the Duke of Waterford. This being a common occurrence since often a message would come from her dear Helen the letter was accepted graciously and given without preamble to Wendy Darling.

Since dinner was about to be served Wendy placed the closed letter upon her bed and went downstairs to help her mother set for dinner. Mrs. Gardner made a rather exquisite Quail Stew with steamed vegetables from the Darling garden as it gave the last of it's fruit before the Winter came.

During dinner they all laughed and talked, mentioning how they missed John, Curly and Michael who were all in a fine boy's school in the south of Wales.

"Read us another poem from Lord Byron, Wendy," one of the twins asked her. 

"Not tonight, dear," she answered, yawning widely. "Maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll read two of them. Both of you make sure you have done all of your lessons for class tomorrow."

"Yes, Wendy."

"Of course, Wendy."

They obeyed her and went to the nursery.

"Wendy, dear... you look so tired. Why don't you retire and I'll take care of Mr. Darling's brandy?" her mother asked her. Wendy turned to her and smiled, agreeing with a nod. "What says Helen, dear?"

"Oh... I've yet to read her letter; I'll do so before bed," Wendy answered and kissed her mother's cheek before going up the stairs.

Her bedroom was now mostly white. Like a frosting on a cake; a snow village that was lightly dusted with powdered sugar. Her aunt said it was symbolic of her purity. To Wendy it reminded her too much of her long nights in the freezing cold all those years ago. She shook her head and picked up the ivory envelope on top of the bed, settling herself down on her sofa to enjoy the usually long read.

She was, however, confused when the writing was not that of the usual fine scrip Helen usually sported. It was much more masculine with hard lines and fewer sentences.

_My Dear Miss. Darling_

_I do hope we all find you in good health for as the news I am about to inform you off might be of quite a shock. Today, as my dearest Helen and I were strolling through our gardens we found something or someone I should say that might' be of particular interest to you. For there in the shadow of Lady Waterford's white rose bush was your long departed friend Peter! He seems to be fine of health except for a bit underweight the doctor said he would be fine with a week worth of chicken broth. What concerns me the most is his mental state. He seems lost and quite simply put confused and not of a stable mind. The only thing he keeps repeating is "Wendy". _

_I write to you in the most urgency to come as soon as you receive this letter for Mr. Pan's sake. You, as always are more than welcomed to stay in our home until Mr. Pan is in better health._

_Yours Truly,  
Lord Waterford._

Wendy dropped the letter, her hands trembling and her watery eyes searching wildly her frosted room which was always too clean for her. She did her own version of a "delicate" growl and threw her lamp (the lamp which barely lighted her surroundings but gave enough light for it to be civilized) against her white-wooded dresser, letting it shatter to the floor into a hundred pieces.

Within seconds her brothers came running into her room, eyes wide and faces red.

"Wendy!" they cried, all alarmed, all worried.

"Send for a taxi," she snapped to the eldest of them.

"But Wendy, you're not well," one of the twins commented. 

"I'll fetch mother," Toodles commented.

"Fetch the taxi!" she roared. Even her always soft hair seemed wild and threatening to them at the moment. "At once!"

Toodles, pale as he was managed to nod and run out of her room.

"Wendy!" she could hear her mother coming up the stairs.

"Mother, come quick!" one of the twins begged of her, still shocked at Wendy's wild behavior as she frantically threw her garments into an overnight bag.

"Wendy what on earth..." Mrs. Darling stood watching her, eyes just as wide as the twin's and her gapping just as fast.

"Mother!" Wendy told her, picking up her suitcase. "It's Peter! The Duke has found Peter!"

Her voice was wavering, her nerves were shot and she was shaking like a leaf.

"Peter? Peter Pan?" her mother repeated, just as surprised as Wendy had been.

"Yes, one in the same!" Wendy cried, pashing past her mother with her dragging suitcase.

Mrs. Darling seem to suddenly realize were her daughter was headed and flew after her. "Wendy!"

Wendy didn't stop and continued her furious battle down the stairs.

"Wendy! Where on earth are you going? And at this time!" Mrs. Darling bellowed after her.

"I'm going to him, mother - he needs me!" Wendy reached the bottom step and she let Toodles take her suitcase from her; dragging to the door.

"The taxi has arrived, Wendy -- do reconsider!" he pleaded. 

"A Taxi?" Mr. Darling came into the hall in time to see Toodles going out the front door with Wendy's luggage and Mrs. Darling frantically crying out after Wendy as she nearly ran down the stairs.

"Goodbye father, I will send word back the moment I am settled," Wendy told him and kissed his cheek.

"Send word? Good heaven! Mary, what is going on?!" he demanded of his wife.

"Oh, she's leaving, George--chasing after that young man, Peter!"

Mr. Darling seemed to understand what was happening because he choose to reach out and grab Wendy's hand. "Wait a minute!" he cried. "There will be order in this house!"

Wendy struggled against his grasp, looking on wildly at the front door. "Father, please!" She quickly took the note sent to her by the Duke with her other hand and shoved it at her father. "Here!"

Mr. Darling let go of her hand as he was rightly startled by the paper being forced on his face. "What--"

"Read it George!" Mrs. Darling demanded of him. 

Mr. Darling adjusted his glasses and opened the short letter. They both read the contents, their faces palling then look up at Wendy... but she was gone. She had gone out the front door and left with the taxi.

"She needs to do this, George... she's a grown woman now and she's going to a safe place, we've often trusted the Waterford with her well being."

-------------------------------------

The Waterford Estate was one of the grandest in London. Well, it truly resided in the outskirts of London; taking a small province to itself as it flourished the land with it's rich fields, grand manor, award-winning horses and everlasting tranquility... until that night.

All this grandeur was lost to Wendy as she concentrated herself on the road before her; too many times had she come to the manor and admired it's beauty... and too many days and nights had she spent alone.

The news had hit her body like a bath of cold water during January's chill. It was a spasm effect that she had no control over. Her nerves were jittery, her hands (oh, delicate hands) trembled and her left eyes was developing a nasty permanent twitch. In all, it was too much excitement; much more than the proper lady was used to.

She leaned forward on the seat of the coach to take a better look at the house through it's darkening haze; to see maybe a flash of a blond head or a wisp of fairy wind.

But nothing came to her; the manor was as stylish and as ordered as she had always remembered it; perhaps she thought that the arrival of Peter would disrupt something in the ecosystem; the oceans would change tide, the moon would brighten it's glow just for her and her fluttery heart.

As the carriage as brought to halt in front of the large manor steps the butler came rushing forward to open her door but she was already halfway out and running up the white steps.

"Where is he?" she demanded, lifting her skirts as to not trip over the stairs.

The butler held her elbow for steadiness and opened the large door for her. "My Lord Duke is in the study waiting for you, we expected you hours ago--"

"I know! I was delayed," she explained quickly, easing herself through the house she as quite familiar with and to the study.

"My dear Wendy!" the Duke turned to her from his pipe-smoking before the fire. "I've been waiting ages!"

"I deeply apologize, my lord," she bowed quickly--her eyes still wide and her hole body shaking with anxiousness.

"No apologies, come dear girl," she followed him out of the library. "We have been trying to move him to a more comfortable room but he refuses for my maids to touch him, just to have the doctor come is was a dragging problem!"

Wendy's heart beat in her chest faster than it should on any human being, her body singing with excitement, dread and fright. "Is he hurt, is he wounded?"

"The doctor stated he is simply very frightened," the Duke told her, leading her don a dark corridor; one Wendy in her four years visiting the manor had never seen.

"Where are we?" she asked, her body shivering against the much cooler atmosphere. 

"This is the lower floor, used in times of war as a hiding place for royalty."

"How did you get him here?" she asked, her brows furrowed.

"He fled from the doctor and ended up in his current room, we've been unable to get him out," he explained. 

She sighed, watching as they approached a door which had two servants there with blankets, food and other rations waiting expectedly for their master.

The door before her as old and dusty, as if decades of non-use had made it part of the picturesque; the cobwebs dangled from it and sang to her a cryptic poem. 

"Here, he must be cold," the housemaid told Wendy as she handed her a thick wool blanked which Wendy accepted quickly. 

"I shall go in with you, my dear," the Duke stated. "There's no telling how wild he is and what he might do!"

"Yes, miss! He bit my finger!" the maid showed her a bandaged digit and Wendy winced. "I do apologize... I will talk to him alone, My Lord... I can take care of myself."

"I have no doubt of that, my dear. But I must insist, for your own safety!" he pressed.

"My lord... if there is someone Peter would never hurt it is I." she assured him and took the food from the other maid's hand.

The Duke grumbled but let her in the door by herself. 

Taking a deep breath Wendy nodded and passed the barrier of the door. The room was dark except for two candles that had been set up around the room, cast a warm golden glow over the sparsely furnished room.

And that's when she saw, curled up against the wall -- taller than any young man she had ever seen, his blond hair raggedy and dirty and his once golden skin almost pale and pasty.

Tremors formed throughout her body; she had read he was alive, she had talked about it but now seeing him before her tore right through her heart.

"Peter..." she whispered. Her on voice, quavering and unbelieving. "Peter?" she came closer and he whimpered.

"It's Wendy, Peter... Wendy is here..."

He lifted his dirty head and those questing green eyes found her. 

She gasped and couldn't help but smile. He was no longer a boy but a man--a thick beard covered his face and the once tight fitting leaves were now in shambles-- leaving him nearly naked.

"Wendy... Wendy... Wendy..." he mumbled, still looking at her very curious.

"Yes, Peter..." she came closer to him and he let out a loud wail.

"No, Peter, please!" she came closer until she was sitting next to him on the bed, making him wail louder than ever. He began trashing about, his hands trying to cover him face and his long large legs hitting the air in spasms.

He grabbed his hands and let him shake her, him being much more stronger than her. "Please, Peter!"

His chest heaved and she could see the tear tracks running down his face. After a while he stopped screaming and simply looked at her, softly sobbing and hiccupping.

"There... there... it's Wendy, Peter."

His head tilted slightly as he studied her.

"Wendy." he said, rather strained.

A smile broke out in her face and she sighed. "Yes. *I'm* Wendy."

Slowly, as the seasons change, a smile broke in his face. "Wendy." he repeated.

"Yes, Peter."

A hand, large and dirty tentatively went towards her face and she forced herself to stay completely still. His warmth touched her like a gentle lover's kiss in the cool Spring air and she nearly sobbed at the gesture. Tears or realization that had been held back these few hours broke free and touched his finger tips in a divine gesture.

"Don't cry, Wendy-lady." he whispered.

That only made her sob.

"Oh, Peter!"

Her on hand came up to meet his and they caressed each other in an intimate gesture. 

"I was so lost...." he said slowly. "I... tried to... to find you."

He was shaking and she realized it was the cool temperature of the room.

"I've been... searching for... so long..." he whispered, now bringing his forehead to rest against hers.

"I'm here now, Peter... I'm here now. I wont go away, I promise." she told him touching his own face, remembering once more how his skin felt under her fingers.

"I grew up, Wendy... I didn't mean to grow up." small tears left his eyes, shame filling his voice.

She smiled warmly at him. "I grew up too, Peter... your Wendy grew up also."

"Why, Wendy?" he asked, his voice like a child's.

She took a deep breath. "Because we loved, Peter... we loved like grown-up... and you can't be a child once you love like that."

He studied her face for what seemed like a life-time and then slowly nodded. 

"You're always so brave, my Wendy..."

She laughed, softly. "You too, my brave Peter."

She stood up and offered him a hand. "Come along, Peter... let's go home."

-----------------------------

The End

A/N: After struggling through school work and real-life I finally was able to finish the story. Thank you for those of you who wrote me encouraging emails instead of ranting that I was taking too long, since while writing college papers the last thing one needs is people bitching about fanfiction. I hope that those of you who have followed the fiction enjoy it and it's ending.

I know many of you are asking if I will write more Peter Pan fiction and I've got to say that I wont; I'm trying to finish my WIP from my other fandom so I can get to my professional writing. Thank you all for the support and the believers that Wendy and Peter could've had their happily-ever after.


End file.
